Huntington Ingalls tapped for more repairs on Fitzgerald

Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Huntington Ingalls has been awarded a contract for additional repairs and restoration of the USS Fitzgerald, a guided-missile destroyer that collided with a Philippine cargo ship in June.

The deal, announced Friday by the Department of Defense, is valued at more than $30.1 million under the terms of a cost-plus-fixed fee modified contract that continues repairs and restoration work on the USS Fitzgerald.

Additional modifications for the Fitzgerald are planned to include equipment installation and modernization requirements. A final contract to cover the scope of repairs on the vessel is expected in the third quarter of fiscal 2018, the Pentagon said.

Work on the contract will occur in Mississippi, and is expected to be completed in January 2020.

More than $15 million will be obligated to Huntington Ingalls at the time of award from Navy fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance funds and other procurement funds. More than $14.4 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

The Arleigh Burke-class USS Fitzgerald, assigned to the Navy's Seventh Fleet, arrived in Pascagoula, Miss., for repairs on Jan. 19, aboard heavy lift vessel MV Transshelf from Yokosuka, Japan. The ship is one of several Navy vessels involved in collisions last year.