U.S. announces defense contracts

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WASHINGTON, March 22 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Defense on Friday announced awards totaling more than $496 million in connection with three programs, including a new aircraft carrier.

The first contract, worth more than $407.4 million was given to Huntington Ingalls Inc. by the U.S. Navy as a modification to a 2009 contract.

Under the modification, Huntington Ingalls will extend construction efforts for construction of CVN 79, the future USS John F. Kennedy, a Gerald R. Ford class aircraft carrier. Work includes advanced construction activity and providing the capability to procure long-lead materials if needed.

CVN 79 is due for completion in 2020.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency modified a contract to Lockheed Martin Mission Systems Training installation, integration and test of the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System at the Pacific Missile Range facility in Hawaii and at facility in Romania.

The value of the modification is more than $79.6 million and takes the value of the original contract to about $331.8 million.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, meanwhile, gave Goodrich Corp. a $7.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract nor Phase 3 of its Hybrid Multi-Material Rotor program.

Goodrich will conduct scale work to mitigate risk associated with the design and manufacturing of rotors made from hybrid multi-materials.