Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Navy puts $46M more into BIW’s Zumwalt destroyer build

By Brendan Lynch

Bath Iron Works Corp. has landed $45.8 million from the U.S. Navy for the design and construction of destroyer ships, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

The deal is a modification to a previously won contract for detail design and construction of the DDG 1000 Zumwalt Class Destroyer. Work on the contract will be performed in Bath, Maine, and is expected to be completed by November 2010. Bath Iron Works is a ship-building division of defense giant General Dynamics Co.

Last month, another General Dynamics ship-building subsidiary, Electric Boat, landed $6.2 million from the Navy for work on nuclear submarines. Under that deal, also a modification to a previously won contract, Groton, Conn.-based Electric Boat will maintain and modernize facilities and equipment on operation nuclear submarines for the Nuclear Regional Maintenance Department. The company will also perform off-hull support of submarine maintenance.

In October, Electric Boat landed $268 million from the U.S. Navy for design services for nuclear-powered attack submarines. Under the contract modification, Electric Boat will maintain and update design drawings and data for all Virginia-class submarines, including technology insertions. In addition, Electric Boat will perform Virginia-class development and design studies.

In September, Bath Iron Works won a $7.4 million contract modification for technical assistance for the DDG-51 class of Aegis destroyers.

General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), which employs about 83,500 workers, reported profits of $2.07 billion on $27.2 billion in revenue for 2007.