- USS Iwo Jima will undergo modernisation at Norfolk Naval Shipyard under a BAE contract worth $204.1m, potentially $255.8m, finishing February 2028
- The ship was recently in the news for its reported role in the Caracas raid and as a transfer point after the capture of President Nicolás Maduro
- Separately, a Norfolk JV won a $150m SIOP engineering contract through January 2031 for shipyard upgrades
The US Navy’s Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima, made famous in recent weeks for its role in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, will undergo a near two-year modernisation programme at Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
Due to be carried out by BAE Systems Maritime Solutions Norfolk, the initial $204.1m programme could increase to $255.8m should all options be exercised, with a planned completion date of February 2028.
The US Department of Defense (DoD) said on 16 January the contract had been competitively solicited with three offers received. Naval Sea Systems Command was named as a contracting authority.
A workhorse of the US Navy’s littoral power projection, the Wasp-class amphibious assault ships are a mainstay of the US Navy, able to accommodate a range of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft including F-35B stealth fighters and V-22 tiltrotors, as well as embark a full US Marine Corp detachment of over 1,600 personnel.
The USS Iwo Jima was one of the embarkation vessels for a dramatic early-January US raid into the Venezuelan capital Caracas and served as a waypoint for the captured President Maduro as he was taken into US custody and transported to the United States.
The modernisaton programme for USS Iwo Jima is considerably more expensive than a similar programme carried out on USS Wasp, which is due to be completed by February this year.
Norfolk shipyard SIOP award
Meanwhile, the acronomical M&N-BMCD LANT SIOP JV, located at Norfolk, Virginia, has been awarded a $150m firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity architect-engineering contract for “various projects” in support of the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP).
The US DoD stated on 16 January that work will be performed at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and due to be completed in January 2031.
According to US Naval Sea Systems Command, the SIOP programme office was created in 2018 to modernise shipyards at Norfolk, Portsmouth, Puget Sound, and Pearl Harbor, to meet future maintenance needs on platforms such as US Navy’s nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers.
Specifically, Norfolk Naval Shipyard will see the modernisation of Dry Dock 8 through five distinct projects, including a $486m cost for cooling water provision for Gerald R Ford-class aircraft carriers operating from the East Coast.
In 2023, the US Navy was found to be unable to provide a full cost and schedule estimate for its ongoing SIOP efforts.
