Huntington Ingalls Industries announced on June 17, 2020, that its Ingalls Shipbuilding division has received a third contract modification from the U.S. Navy for $145 million to provide long-lead-time material and advance procurement activities for amphibious assault ship LHA 9. This modification brings the total advance funding for LHA 9 to $350 million.
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Amphibious assault ship LHA 9. (Picture source Huntington Ingalls)
“This advance procurement contract will help protect the health of our supplier base and strengthen our efforts to efficiently modernize the nation’s amphibious fleet as we continue to build amphibious ships for the Navy,” Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Cuccias said.
Ingalls is the sole builder of large-deck amphibious ships for the Navy. The shipyard delivered its first amphibious assault ship, the Iwo Jima-class USS Tripoli (LPH 10), in 1966. Ingalls has since built five Tarawa-class (LHA 1) ships, eight Wasp-class (LHD 1) ships and the first in a new class of amphibious assault ships, America (LHA 6), in 2014. The second ship in that class, Tripoli (LHA 7), was delivered to the Navy earlier this year. Bougainville (LHA 8) is under construction.
The LHA 9 is an America-class amphibious assault ship, a variant of the extremely successful Wasp-class LHD amphibious assault ships that are in service with the U.S. Navy. Also known as “Large Deck amphibious ships,” they are the centerpieces of amphibious ready groups and a U. S. Marine Corps Air-Ground Task Force. They provide unparalleled sea basing capabilities including unequaled command and control and hospital capacities.
Large deck amphibious assault ships launch forces from air and sea, utilizing interior well decks and flight decks to conduct missions across the spectrum of operations that range from humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to full combat force.
The America-class LHAs are 844 feet long with a 106-foot beam displacing more than 44,000 tons. These capital ships take more than five years to build. USS America (LHA 6) is the first ship in its class built without a well deck but with a larger hangar and aviation storage, focusing on purely aviation-related capacity.
The ships have a crew of 1,204 and can transport up to 1,800 troops and their equipment. America (LHA 6) is nearly three football fields in length and is 20 stories high from its keel to the top of her deckhouse. The flight deck dimension is more than two acres for launching, landing and stowing aircraft.
The America-class LHA is able to carry 5 F-35B Joint Strike Fighters, 4 AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters, 2 UH-1Y Venom attack helicopters, 4 CH-53E Super Sea Stallion helicopters, 12 MV-22 Osprey and 2 MH-60S Search and Rescue helicopters. Defensive weapons systems include .50 caliber machine guns, The Phalanx, Sea Sparrow and Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) anti-ship cruise missile weapon systems and decoy launchers.
