The Navy on Thursday granted HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding Company a $2.4 billion contract amendment to build the fourth ship in the US class of amphibious assault ships, according to the contract’s announcement. The Pentagon. The detailed design, design and construction contract for the LHA-9 follows a long-term materials contract issued in April 2020, HII said in a company press release.

“Ingalls shipbuilders are ready to build the Navy’s newest LHA,” Kari Wilkinson, president of Ingalls Shipbuilding, said in a press release. We understand the importance of this work and consider it an honor to have the opportunity to provide this capability to the fleet. We appreciate our partnership with the Navy and all of our key supplier partners.”

The contract is worth up to $3.2 billion with potential options, the contract announcement said. Ingalls will begin construction on the ship this March, according to a press release.

Ingalls builds both America-class amphibious assault ships and San Antonio-class amphibious transport ships at its Pascagoula, Miss., yard. It also builds Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers and the Coast Guard’s Legend-class National Security Breaker.

Ingalls has invested nearly $1 billion in yard modernization over the past five years, USNI News reported in August after a trip to Pascagoula.

The future USS Bougainville (LHA-8), designed to house the F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, was halfway built during USNI News’ trip to the yard. The Navy and Marine Corps this summer tested the concept of a “lightning carrier” or “attack carrier” aboard the USS Tripoli (LHA-7) with F-35Bs operating on board. landed in a few months.

Tripoli and USS America (LHA-6), the leaders of their class, did not have good decks. The Navy is reintroducing the well deck on Bougainville and subsequent LHAs.