NEWPORT NEWS, Va., Dec. 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy has approved continued funding for the design of its next-generation aircraft carrier, which has passed the halfway point.
Northrop Grumman was awarded a contract modification worth $860.6 million for the CVN 21 program, which will lead to a new class of carrier to take the Navy deep into the 21st Century.
"We are making good progress on the design," Northrop Vice President Mike Shawcross said from the Newport News shipyard. "We're more than 50 percent complete with the overall design. This contract modification will carry us through 2007 to the next major milestone when we will establish the construction contract for the first ship in the class, CVN 78."
"CVN 21" refers to "21st Century" and by no means to the old USS Boxer, which bore that number in the years after World War II. Old salts from that era would hardly recognize the newer CVN 21.
The class beginning with CVN 78 will include an overall improvement over current carriers, including improved weapons handling, electromagnetic catapults, increased power generation and a new-design nuclear power plant.
The outward design features changes to the flight deck and the island, which Northrop said would increase the ship's sortie rate.
At the same time, the new technology will allow the Navy to sail with smaller crews and lower operating costs.
The first ship is pegged at $13 billion, which includes the research-and-development tab, and should be completed in 2015, according to analysts.
