The US Navy is awarding Huntington Ingalls a $2.6 billion contract to perform the refuelling and complex overhaul of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
Prior to the US Congress passing the Consolidated and Further Continuation Appropriation Act for fiscal year 2013, the USN had said it could not fund refuelling and refurbishing the vessel because of the legislative branch's inability to pass a budget. Each of the service's 100,000t Nimitz-class aircraft carriers needs to be refuelled once every 25 years during their 50-year lifespan.
The work will be performed at Newport News, Virginia, at the only shipyard in the USA that is capable of building and refuelling a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. It is not yet known if the USN will be able to award Huntington Ingalls a contract to begin the construction of the new Gerald Ford-class carrier USS John F Kennedy, which was also delayed by the budget battles in Congress.
The task of refuelling the USS Abraham Lincoln is expected to be completed by November 2016.
Source: Flight International
