Signs major international contract

Ingalls to modernize Venezuelan frigates

December 18, 1997 -- Ingalls Shipbuilding division of Litton Industries has signed a $315 million contract with the government of Venezuela, to overhaul and modernize two Venezuelan Armada frigates, MARISCAL SUCRE (F21) AND ALMIRANTE BRION (F22).

"Ingalls has a long-standing reputation for quality, schedule and efficiency in the construction and modernization of major naval vessels," said Jerry St. Pe', senior vice president of Litton and president of Ingalls Shipbuilding. "Participating in the modernization of the Venezuelan Navy is certainly compatible with our capability and experience and demonstrates our Company's reputation internationally."

The 2,500-ton LUPO Class frigates were initially placed in service in Venezuela between 1980 and 1982, and are designed for antiair, antisurface and antisubmarine warfare missions.

The work will begin with the arrival of the two ships at Ingalls within the next several weeks, and is scheduled to take approximately two years. During peak work periods, as many as 1,000 Ingalls employees will be involved in the Venezuelan program.

Work performed at Ingalls will include repairs to the ships' hulls, replacement of propulsion diesel engines, upgrading gas turbine engines, replacing the ships' electrical generating plants and machinery control systems, as well as upgrading shipboard command and control systems in the ships' Combat Information Centers. Additionally, all weapons systems will be overhauled.

Currently employing 10,200, including a 1,400-member engineering team experienced in the latest computer engineering and ship production techniques, Ingalls has been lead designer and builder of five of the U.S. Navy's newest, advanced classes of major surface combatants. Over the past six decades, Ingalls has designed and built hundreds of complex military and commercial ships, and has delivered 74 new U.S. Navy destroyers, cruisers and amphibious assault ships since 1975.

Building upon its long history of new construction work for the U.S. Navy, Ingalls is also a participant in the international shipbuilding and ship overhaul markets, including the production of a series of vessels for the Israeli Navy. This program, to design and build three 1,300 ton corvette size ships, resulted in the world's first surface combatant to be totally designed in three-dimensional computer-aided design (3-D CAD). Today, Ingalls' family of international combatant ship designs includes a 203 foot Multimission Missile Boat, a 203 foot Customs Patrol Ship, a 279 foot Customs Patrol Ship, a 279 foot Corvette, a 420 foot Frigate, and a 492 foot Multipurpose Amphibious Ship.

Ingalls is working with a number of potential international customers, in the Pacific Rim as well as in Europe and the Middle East, to supply its corvette for those countries' military and non-military requirements.

Ingalls has also performed engineering, logistics and overhaul services for international navies receiving surplus ships from the U.S. Navy. Ingalls has already prepared two U.S. Navy frigates for transfer. The former USS GALLERY (FFG 26) is now in the Egyptian Navy as ENS TABA (F 916); and the former USS JACK WILLIAMS (FFG 24) is now BANS SABHA in the Bahrain Armed Forces. In September 1997, Ingalls signed a contract with the Bahrain Defense Force for the lifetime support of BANS SABHA. The contract calls for Ingalls to perform engineering, material procurement, production and logistics work as needed throughout the service life of the ship.