Raytheon [RTN] at the end of 2015 picked up a $255 million contract modification for mission system equipment for the Navy’s third Zumwalt-class destroyer, the USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1002), the company said Monday.
Although the contract announcement does not specify what equipment will be procured through this award, Raytheon is responsible for several shipboard systems, including the network that handles all computing applications, the Mk57 Vertical Launching System, and two sonar systems that protect the ship from enemy mines, submarine and torpedoes. The company also acts as the prime mission systems equipment integrator for the ships’ electronic and combat systems.
The contract modification includes options that could bring the total contract value up to almost $350 million, a company news release stated. Work is expected to be completed by October 2019.
The futuristic Zumwalt-class incorporates several new features that could be gamechangers for the Navy: a stealthy design and an electric drive that allows operators to shift energy from one part of the ship to another, which could help power electricity-guzzling new technologies such as the rail gun or lasers.
The first ship in the class, DDG-1000, set off for its first set of sea trial last December. The USS Zumwalt departed on Dec. 7 and on Dec. 14 returned to General Dynamics [GD] Bath Iron Works’ shipyard in Maine. During its week at sea, the ship sailed from the Kennebec River to the Atlantic Ocean and helped rescue a fisherman who was suffering a medical emergency.