Newport News Shipbuilding has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Navy for the design and construction of the tenth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, CVN 77.

The as-yet unnamed CVN 77 will serve as the first transition ship to a new class of carriers.

The contract is valued at approximately US$3,8 billion and the carrier is scheduled for delivery in 2008.

Unlike other Nimitz-class carrier construction contracts, Newport News Shipbuilding is also responsible for delivering the ship's warfare system, a task previously performed by the Navy.

This includes development and procurement of the warfare system through a subcontract to Lockheed Martin and overall integration of the warfare system into the ship.

"CVN 77 is an important transitional step toward the evolution of future carriers and an important milestone in the company's growing role as an overall platform integrator," said NNS chairman and CEO Bill Fricks.

"CVN 77 will incorporate new technologies that pave the way for development of the Navy's next class of large deck, nuclear-powered carriers."

The integrated warfare system on CVN 77 will incorporate a new multifunction radar system and an "open architecture" information network that will enable new technology insertion in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

"Our program objectives for the next class of carriers include reducing the total ownership cost of the ship, reducing crew requirements and improving certain operational capabilities," said NNS Vice President of Technology Development and Carrier Fleet Support Irwin F. Edenzon.

"CVN 77 is both the last ship of the Nimitz class and the first step in the evolutionary process of developing CVNX."

Newport News Shipbuilding designs and constructs nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines for the U.S. Navy and provides life-cycle services for ships in the Navy fleet. The company employs nearly 17 000 people and has annual revenues of approximately $2 billion.

With acknowledgement to Aerotech News.