Contract: Austal USA, $321.7M

Austal USA, Mobile, Ala., is being awarded a $321,725,461 modification to previously awarded contract for the exercise of construction options for Joint High Speed Vessels 8 and 9. The JHSV will provide high speed, shallow draft transportation capability to support the intra-theater maneuver of personnel, supplies, and equipment for the Navy, Marine Corps, and Army. Work will be performed in Mobile, Ala. (48 percent); Pittsfield, Mass. (9 percent); Franklin, Mass. (3 percent); Philadelphia, Pa. (3 percent); Atlanta, Ga. (2 percent); Chicago, Ill. (2 percent); Gulfport, Miss. (2 percent); Slidell, La. (1 percent); Iron Mountain, Mich. (1 percent); Houston, Texas (1 percent); Dallas, Texas (1 percent); Chesapeake, Va. (1 percent); Milwaukee, Wis. (1 percent); Brookfield, Wis. (1 percent); various sites throughout the United States (5 percent); and various sites outside of the United States (19 percent). Work is expected to be completed by April 2016. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 02/24/12)

Contract: Huntington Ingalls, $70M

Huntington Ingalls Inc., Pascagoula, Miss., is being awarded a not-to-exceed $70,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract for advance procurement of long-lead-time materials in support of LPD 27, the 11th ship in the San Antonio (LPD 17) class. Work will be performed in Pascagoula, Miss., and is expected to be completed by April 2012. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 02/23/12)

Eastern Shipbuilding expands

PORT ST. JOE, Fla. -- Eastern Shipbuilding Group of Panama City will lease 20 acres at a Port of St. Joe paper mill site to expand its shipbuilding and repair business. The announcement comes less than a month after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the St. Joe Co. and the Port of Port St. Joe Port Authority to develop and market the port. St. Joe’s former paper mill site is some 180 acres. The mill site is also adjacent to a turning basin and navigational channel. St. Joe also owns about 4,700 acres of undeveloped land adjacent to the site. ESG is currently in the process of filling 500 new positions needed to meet its current and future contracts for vessel manufacturing. (Source: The Star, Panama City News Herald, 02/21/12)

Contract: Northrop Grumman, $18.7M

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Bethpage, N.Y., is being awarded an $18,704,042 modification to previously awarded contract to provide engineering and production planning services for mission packages that will deploy from and integrate with the Littoral Combat Ship. Mission package capabilities are currently focused on primary mission areas of mine warfare emphasizing mine countermeasures, littoral anti-submarine warfare, and littoral surface warfare operations, including prosecution of small boats. The LCS mission packages are developed and acquired separately from the LCS sea frame. Work will be performed in Bethpage, N.Y. (45 percent); Washington, D.C. (20 percent); Panama City, Fla. (20 percent); Ventura County, Calif. (10 percent); and Dahlgren, Va. (5 percent). Work is expected to be completed by December 2012. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 02/15/12)

Navy names five new ships

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced Wednesday the names of the next five Navy ships. Three Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyers will be named the USS John Finn, the USS Ralph Johnson, and the USS Rafael Peralta, named after heroes in three different conflicts. The two littoral combat ships will be named after two American communities, the USS Sioux City and the USS Omaha. (Source: DoD, 02/15/12)

Contract: Signal, $14.5M

Signal Ship Repair, LLC, Mobile, Ala., was awarded a $14,484,630 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for the services in support of engine replacements, engine auxiliary systems modification and repair of dredge wheeler. Work will be performed in Mobile, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 15, 2013. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 02/13/12)

LCS to be named Giffords

The next Independence variant of the littoral combat ship will be named the USS Gabrielle Giffords, the former Congresswoman and long-time supporter of the military and veterans. The announcement was made Friday by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. Giffords survived a shooting while at an outside event in Arizona in which several other people died, including 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green. Mabus said the ship's sponsor will be Roxanne Green, the child's mother. The 419-foot long ship, LCS 10, will be built by Austal USA in Mobile, Ala. It's the 13th ship to be named for a living person since 1850. (Source: Navy, 02/10/12)

Commissioning site changed

The Navy has decided to move the commissioning of the $2 billion USS Mississippi from Gulfport to Pascagoula, Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., said Tuesday. The commissioning of the submarine was moved after the Navy raised concerns about the channel depth in Gulfport. The commissioning will be June 2, but it's not yet been determined at which terminal in the Pascagoula harbor the ceremonies will take place. The Navy's newest attack submarine was christened in Connecticut in December. (Source: Sun Herald, Mississippi Press, 02/07/12)

Contract: Ingalls, $9M

Huntington Ingalls Inc., Pascagoula, Miss., is being awarded a $9,000,000 modification to previously awarded contract for additional long lead time material in support of the LHA Replacement Flight 0 amphibious assault ship, LHA 7. Work will be done in Pascagoula and is expected to be completed by May 2013. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 02/06/12)

The budget and shipbuilders

Shipbuilders in Pascagoula, Miss., and Mobile, Ala., will feel an impact from the Pentagon's budget plan outlined Thursday. Littoral Combat Ships built by Austal USA in Mobile and Marinette Marine in Wisconsin will get expanded roles. The Navy intends to base some in Singapore and Bahrain. The 15 LCSs that were to be purchased from 2013 to 2017 was trimmed to 13, but the largest shipbuilding reduction would cut eight of nine planned Austal Joint High Speed Vessels. The budget proposal also delays by a year the start of construction for the Huntington Ingalls LHA-8 large-deck amphibious vessel, but doesn't slow Navy plans to buy additional Arleigh Burke-class DDG-51 destroyers from General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls. (Source: Bloomberg, 01/26/12)

Navy seeks more HII cost-cutting

WASHINGTON -- The Navy is working with Huntington Ingalls to drive down costs on the CVN 78 aircraft carrier and LPD amphibious ships under construction. Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley said HII hit the cost ceiling established in a fixed price contract for LPD-22, the second ship delivered at the Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. He told reporters at the Surface Navy Association's annual conference that subsequent ships in the class were also over target, but showing improvement. HII Chief Executive Mike Petters said the company had already taken charges for the cost overruns on the LPD ships 22 through 25, but said the company was doing better with LPD 26, which is in the early stages of production. (Source: Reuters, 01/12/12)

Two agencies push STEM training

For NASA and the Navy, ensuring there's a pool of talent versed in science, technology, engineering and math is crucial, and both agencies have programs in place to pique the interest of the next generation of workers. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, with a center at Stennis Space Center, Miss., and the Navy, a tenant at SSC, are reaching Mississippi students through several programs. Between January and November 2011, nearly 1,000 educators and 10,000 students have been served through SSC programs. And this year the Navy will launch "Mission Ocean," a year-long submarine-related program. (Source: Alliance Insight, "NASA, Navy push STEM training," January 2012) Full newsletter

Contract: SAIC, $10.6M

Science Applications International Corp., Mclean, Va., is being awarded a $10,647,009 modification to a previously awarded, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Deep Sea Operations Program to introduce surveillance that operates at extreme ocean depths to detect quiet submarines. The exercising of this 15-month option brings the cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $12,199,237. Work will be conducted at contractor facilities in Arlington, Va. (27 percent); Long Beach, Miss. (27 percent); San Diego, Calif. (22 percent); Austin, Texas (17 percent); Germantown, Md. (six percent); and Melbourne, Fla. (one percent). Work is expected to be completed April 11, 2013. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 01/12/12)

Navy to christen LCS Coronado

MOBILE, Ala. -- The Navy will christen the Littoral Combat Ship Coronado, Saturday, Jan. 14, during a 10 a.m. CST ceremony in Mobile, Ala. The Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development & Acquisition, Sean Stackley, will deliver the principal address. The ship's name recognizes the city of Coronado, Calif., and honors the city's deep ties to the U.S. Navy. Coronado has been home to Naval Air Station North Island and Naval Amphibious Base, since 1917. Two previous ships have been named after this city. Designated LCS 4, Coronado is designed to operate in littoral seas and shallow water to counter mines, submarines and fast surface craft threats in coastal regions. Constructed by Austal USA, Coronado is the second of the Independence-variant in the LCS class. (Source: DoD, 01/12/12)

SSC experts to chair event

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- Two oceanographers from NASA's Stennis Space Center will chair a conference on ocean sensing and monitoring. The International Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Defense Security and Sensing's fourth Ocean Sensing and Monitoring conference is scheduled for April 23-27 in Baltimore, Md. It will be chaired by Weilin "Will" Hou and Bob Arnone, both oceanographers in the Oceanography Division at Naval Research Laboratory at Stennis Space Center. Hou developed the conference for SPIE and has chaired the event with Arnone since 2008. The conference will focus on research and development efforts in the open and coastal ocean with respect to defense and security interests. An emphasis will be placed on in situ and remote monitoring, deep-sea operations, forecasting, new technology and techniques, monitoring of unique events, and environmental limitations and impacts of note to those in the homeland security and defense sectors. (Source: Naval Research Laboratory, 01/11/12)

Contract: Lockheed Martin, $20.6M

Lockheed Martin Corp., Baltimore, Md., is being awarded a $20,616,676 modification to previously awarded contract for MK 41 Vertical Launching System production support material, interim support parts, and equipment in support of DDG 51 class construction. The MK 41 VLS provides a missile launching system for CG 47 and DDG 51 class surface combatants of the U.S. Navy, surface combatants of allied navies, and Aegis Ashore requirements for Missile Defense Agency's Ground Ballistic Missile Defense Program. It is the primary missile launching system aboard Navy combatants used to store, safe, inventory and launch missiles of various types. Work will be performed in Baltimore, Md. (41.1 percent); Lewisburg, Tenn. (19.1 percent); Fort Walton Beach, Fla. (18.8 percent); Johnstown, Pa. (9.2 percent); Simpsonville, S.C. (5.5 percent); Clearwater, Fla. (3.2 percent); and Sterling Heights, Mich. (3.1 percent). Work is expected to be completed by June 2015. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 01/10/12)

Zumwalt: Testbed or more?

Is the DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer a science project testbed or a technologically advanced destroyer needed by the fleet? That's the issue raised in a story in Aviation Week, which points out that the answer depends on who is asked. The ship being built by General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Maine is using a lot of new technologies, including a hybrid drive, composite deckhouse and new guns, and construction is running ahead of schedule. (Source: Aviation Week, 12/28/11) Gulf Coast note: Ingalls Shipbuilding's Composites Center of Excellence in Gulfport, Miss., is building the Zumwalt's integrated composite deckhouse, helicopter hangars and parts of the ship's peripheral vertical launch systems.

Ingalls, subcontractors cited

Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., and five subcontractors have been cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 50 safety and health violations. OSHA proposed a penalty of $176,444. Violations included blocked exits, tripping and fall hazards and more. The companies have up to 15 business days to appeal the citations. The inspection resulted from a complaint made in June. (Sources: multiple, including Sun Herald, Mississippi Press, 12/28/11)

Navy gets nod for ferries

The Navy received approval to spend up to $35 million to buy both Austal USA-built super ferries from the U.S. Maritime Administration, according to published reports. The Huakai and Alakia, both built in Mobile, Ala., will be transferred to the Navy if the bill is signed by the president. The ferries were originally built to transport people and goods around the Hawaiian islands. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, Virginian Pilot, 12/23/11) Previous post

Shipbuilder adding 500 workers

PANAMA CITY, Fla. -- Eastern Shipbuilding Group is adding 500 new jobs to fill two new contracts. The company needs to extra worker because of two contracts to build 13 supply vessels. One is for Brazil's Boldini S.A., and the other for Hornbeck Offshore. Eastern Shipbuilding is one of the largest employers in Bay County. (Source: Panama City News Herald, 12/20/11)