Defense and space contractor BAE Systems has secured a potential $123.8 million contract from the U.S. Navy for upkeep and refurbishment of a guided-missile destroyer. The contract has a base period of $107.7 million.
The terms of the extended dry-docking selected restricted availability contract task the BAE Systems team to perform modernization duties over an approximately year-and-a-half period on the USS Ross, culminating in April 2024, the London, UK-based company said Wednesday.
Mike Bruneau, vice president and general manager of BAE Systems Norfolk Ship Repair, highlighted the integral and mission-critical nature of the contract work, indicating that the company’s staff and subcontractors were up to the job.
“We look forward to meeting the long-term maintenance goals for USS Ross to sustain the future capability and readiness of the ship,” Bruneau elaborated.
The USS Ross will be dry-docked at BAE’s Norfolk, Virginia shipyard while the facility’s more than 1,100 employees conduct maintenance on the underwater hull and restore the ship’s main propulsion system, as well as sustain internal ballast, fuel tanks and external superstructure. They will also be in charge of revamping crew berthing and dining quarters.
Plans to build the USS Ross were initiated in 1997. An Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, it was completed in 2006 and its most recent voyage was as a forward-deployed U.S. Navy combatant during a seven-year stint in Rota, Spain. After BAE’s thorough maintenance and modernization duties are finished, the ship is projected to be able to operate continuously for an additional 10 years.
In January, BAE was awarded a similar, $101.9 million U.S. Navy contract to get another guided-missile destroyer — the USS Mitscher — ready for voyage via maintenance and modernization services.