HII awarded $45M contract for USS O'Kane modernization

Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Huntington Ingalls has received a contract from the U.S. Navy for repairs on the USS O'Kane.

This availability will include a combination of maintenance, modernization and repair of USS O'Kane.

The $44.7 million firm-fixed-price contract, announced Friday by the Defense Department, could extend to $52 million if options on the deal are exercised.

Last week, the Navy extended the deployment of the USS O'Kane to support the 7th fleet in Japan, which is suffering a ship shortage due to the deadly collisions of the USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain in 2017.

Upgrades to the vessel will revolve around reducing the ship's workload requirements and increasing war fighting capabilities while reducing total ownership cost to the Navy. Those improvements will include massive overhauls to combat systems, as well as hull, mechanical and electrical upgrades.

The Navy has obligated more than $44.7 million from fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, fiscal 2019 other procurement and working capital fund funding for work on the O'Kane, with $35.1 million set to expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

Work will take place in California and is expected to be completed by January 2020.