The U.S. Navy has awarded Bath Iron Works, a subsidiary of General Dynamics a $197 million contract modification to continue work on the new DDG 1000 Zumwalt Class of destroyers. Work to be performed includes long lead material procurement and pre-production planning to support detail design and ship construction. The contract being modified was originally awarded in August 2006.
The Zumwalt class of ships represents the Navy's next generation of multi-mission surface combatants which will provide a broad range of capabilities that are vital both to supporting the Global War on Terror and to fighting and winning major combatant operations.
Bath Iron Works, a leader in surface combatant design and construction, employs approximately 5,800 people. Its current program for the Navy is the highly successful series of Arleigh Burke-class AEGIS guided-missile destroyers, for which it is lead designer and builder. BIW has delivered 28 ships of this class, and six more are in various stages of construction at the Maine shipyard.