Work on the nation's next nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), continues apace.
Following up on a $65 million contract award to fund purchases of "long lead material" in early March, and a further $407.4 million awarded a couple of weeks later, the Department of Defense modified its contract with Huntington Ingalls (HII 0.36%) yet again on Monday.
According to the Pentagon's announcement, this latest $60.8 million installment is expected to give Huntington sufficient funds needed to "provide all services and material in preparation for construction of CVN 79, including necessary research studies; engineering; design; related development efforts; advance planning; advance procurement for detail design and procurement of long lead material; advance construction; life cycle support; logistics data and other data."
In total, therefore, Huntington has now been awarded more than $533 million over the past two months, to ensure it has the monies necessary to proceed with building the Kennedy -- at least through October 2015, when the current contract expires.
