The US Coast Guard has awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division two fixed-price incentive contracts for the construction of additional two National Security Cutters.
The contract values for the a 10th and 11th ships in the program are $468.75 million for NSC 10 and $462.13 million for NSC 11.
“This additional funding for two NSCs is a great accomplishment on which to end the year,” said Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Cuccias. “The outstanding work being done by skilled men and women of Ingalls, as well as the recognition by Congress and the U.S. Coast Guard as to the important contributions these ships make to our nation’s defense, are the reason for this success.”
Ingalls has delivered seven NSCs, the flagships of the Coast Guard’s cutter fleet, designed to replace the 12 Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters that entered service in the 1960s. The seventh ship, Kimball (WMSL 756), will be commissioned in Hawaii on January 19.
Both the eighth ship, Midgett (WMSL 757), and the ninth, Stone (WMSL 758), are currently under construction at Ingalls. Midgett is scheduled for its first set of sea trials in the first quarter of 2019. Stone is scheduled to launch in 2019.
NSCs are 418 feet long with a 54-foot beam and displace 4,500 tons with a full load. They have a top speed of 28 knots, a range of 12,000 miles, an endurance of 60 days and a crew of 120.
The Legend-class NSC includes an aft launch and recovery area for two rigid hull inflatable boats and a flight deck to accommodate a range of manned and unmanned rotary wing aircraft. It is the largest and most technologically advanced class of cutter in the US Coast Guard, with robust capabilities for maritime homeland security, law enforcement, marine safety, environmental protection and national defense missions.