Philadelphia Gear tapped for reduction gears for new Navy destroyers

May 30 (UPI) -- Philadelphia Gear was awarded a contract by the Department of Defense on Tuesday for parts on two future Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers.

The contract, from Naval Sea Systems Command and announced on Tuesday, is valued at more than $70.8 million under the terms of a firm-fixed-price modified contract. The company will provide main reduction gears for the future unnamed DDG-128 and DDG-129, according to the Pentagon.

Main reduction gears on a combatant ship slows it down when desired by the crew. On the Arleigh Burke-destroyers, the main reduction gears "transmit the power from two main propulsion gas turbines to the propulsion shaft," the Pentagon said.

Work on the contract will occur in multiple locations in the United States and is expected to be complete in November 2020.

The total cumulative amount of the contract will be obligated to Philadelphia Gear at time of award from Navy fiscal 2018 shipbuilding and conversion funds, the Pentagon said.

The obligated funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year in September.