Navy contracts for LPD-17 support

TEWKSBURY, Mass., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy has exercised a contract option with Raytheon for continued engineering support for amphibious warfare ships.

U.S. company Raytheon says the Navy exercised a $23 million option for lifecycle support of the LPD-17 class of ships. Officials say the contract extension is the third of three one-year options.

As part of the lifecycle support deal, Raytheon will continue to provide electronics system design, ship integration and other engineering services for the Navy's LPD-17 ships.

"Raytheon continues to build on its history of solid performance on the LPD-17 program," Robert Martin, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems vice president and deputy of sea-power capability systems, said in a statement.

"As program milestones continue and more ships enter the fleet, our experience and expertise will help to maximize the capabilities, reliability and readiness of the ships of the LPD-17 class."