HII contracted for overhaul of aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis

Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Huntington Ingalls has received an $187.6 million contract for planning for refueling complex overhaul work on the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis.

The contract, announced Friday by the Department of Defense, will provide for first year RCOH planning and includes advance plans for materials, procurement, order development, technical documentation, scheduling work and other studies for the Stennis RCOH.

Work will be performed in Newport News, Va., and is expected to be completed by July 2019. Navy fiscal 2017 and 2018 shipbuilding and conversion funds in the amount of $148.7 million will be obligated upon award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

"The planning stage is critically important to the overall success of an engineering and construction project of this magnitude," Chris Miner, vice president for in-service aircraft carrier programs at HII's Newport News Shipbuilding division, said in a company press release. "This contract allows us to prepare for each step in the overhaul process from preparing for the ship's arrival at Newport News to its redelivery back to the Navy."

The USS John C. Stennis is the seventh of the Nimitz-class nuclear powered aircraft carriers, and will be the seventh to undergo RCOH, according to Huntington Ingalls. It was commissioned in 1995 and is named after a prominent senator from Mississippi.

The Nimitz-class is the primary fleet carrier of the US Navy, with the Gerald R. Ford class expected to supplant it over the next few decades. Ten of the vessels are currently in service.

The Nimitz-class can carry over 70 fighters, helicopters and support craft. It forms the backbone of US carrier strike groups.