General Dynamics (GD) Electric Boat has been awarded a modification contract by the US Navy to plan maintenance and modernisation work on the Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered submarine, USS Hartford (SSN-768).
Under the $41.6m firm-fixed-priced follow-on contract, GD will perform dry-docking selected restricted availabilities (DSRA) in order to maintain full unrestricted operation on the submarine.
With a total value of $58.7m, the original contract was awarded to the company in April 2012 and includes options.
GD will also provide maintenance work, upgrades and modernisation related support work as part of the contract to ensure the submarine operates at full technical capacity.
The US Navy’s Los Angeles-class submarines have been designed to support missions, such as anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering, show-of-force and strike missions, as well as mining and search-and-rescue operations.
Armed with the land-attack and anti-ship version of the Tomahawk missile, the Los Angeles-class submarine is powered by a 26MW GE PWR S6G nuclear-pressure water reactor.
Additional weaponry of the submarine includes Harpoon anti-ship missiles, as well as 533mm torpedo tubes and Mk117 torpedo fire control systems.
The submarines of the class also feature electronic support measures (ESM), which include a BRD-7 direction finding system, the WLR-1H and WLR-8(v)2 interceptors and the WLR-10 radar warning device.
In addition to AN/ WLY-1 acoustic interception and countermeasures system, the Los Angeles-class submarines are integrated with Sperry Marine BPS 15 A/16 surface search, navigation and fire control radar.
Work under the recent contract will be carried out in Groton, Connecticut and in Quonset Point, Rhode Island, US. It is scheduled to be complete by July 2013.
The US Naval Sea Systems Command will serve as the contracting activity.
Image: USS Hartford at Submarine Base New London. Photo: US Navy photo by John Narewski/Release.
