BAE Systems has received a $175 million contract from the US Navy to modernise the guided-missile cruiser USS Vicksburg.

The Vicksburg will undergo approximately 18 months of work at the company’s shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia, the ship’s homeport. The modernisation period (MODPRD) contract includes options that, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $175.1 million.

BAE Systems say it initiated the first phase of Vicksburg’s modernisation program in May 2017. The company will begin the final phase of work, called MODPRD, later this month.

“Under the new contract, the shipyard’s employees and industry partners will work on the ship’s weapons and engineering equipment, including its gas turbine propulsion system; restore crew habitability spaces, and support the installation of a new Aegis combat system, communication suite and CANES (Consolidated Afloat Network Enterprise System).

The Vicksburg’s MODPRD is scheduled to be complete in July 2021, allowing the ship to rejoin the operational fleet afterward.”

BAE Systems Norfolk shipyard also is performing similar work on the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg. The Gettysburg’s MODPRD work began in January 2019 and is expected to be complete in mid-2020. The Gettysburg and Vicksburg were commissioned in the early 1990s.

BAE Systems work is expected to extend the service lives of both ships into the mid-2030s.

“Over the last few years, BAE Systems has worked extensively on modernising the Navy’s Atlantic Fleet cruisers,” said Dave Thomas, vice president and general manager of BAE Systems Norfolk Ship Repair.

“The Vicksburg and Gettysburg modernisations are big jobs. Our experience with cruisers and the expertise of our ship repair partners will return these vital combatants to the fleet with clear improvements and upgraded capability to carry out their missions.”

BAE Systems is a main provider of ship repair, maintenance, modernisation, conversion, and overhaul services for the US Navy. The company operates four full-service shipyards in California, Florida, Hawaii, and Virginia.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
Twitter

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

16 COMMENTS

  1. While “a bird in the hand” – etc – is far better than a gaping vacuum in fleet numbers, the CG47’s have seen their best days and are maxed out in capability (particularly the hull form and power generation) compared to new designs coming online. While their large VLS magazines and AD capabilities are highly useful, the USN could probably get much of the same in the new FFGXs , Large Surface Combatants, and UMVs and in much higher numbers with expansion capabilities built in. I think the USN realizes this and could explain their proposals to cut short the ABIII line and retire older ships at a higher than originally planned rate – to include CVNs…

    Cheers

    • But isn’t the problem that poor planning and decisions has meant they need to keep them longer because instead of growing the fleet its actually shrinking.
      The inability to produce affordable ships in any great number is starting to catch up with them.

    • There is no way in hell Congress will allow the US Navy to retire any CVNs that aren’t already programmed to retire once a Ford class CVN is available to replace it.

        • I saw that article in usni also. The Navy is, as they say in the States, “whistling Dixie.” I think you totally underestimate the feeling of the Congress, both Senate and House, when it comes to carriers. Any cuts will come someplace else. not with the carriers. By law, the US must maintain 11 carriers and the US Navy just can’t get around that. It would take both Houses to amend that law and that is just not going to happen.

    • You may also find this of interest, as an explainer for what you’ve noted; specifically the bit of the report that mentions that the USN is considering changing its force balance for fewer LCS and more SCS. It seems that the USMC’s move away from their assault carriers and the drive for distributed lethality is having a broader effect on the Navy’s thinking about its force structure.
      https://fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RL32109.pdf

        • Yes, I think they must be- and I think it’s come as a surprise to everyone. Very similar in fact to how everyone seems to have been caught flat footed by the USMC’s new line of distributing their force more widely; I wonder if there have been new threat assessments behind the scenes that have decided that the threats from China (in particular) and Russia are serious enough that some major changes need to be made. The fact that the Royal Marines seem to be following on the same route suggests that it may be a widespread concern in the west…
          Interesting how the politicians and defence industry are framing this; the USN isn’t advocating a navy less than 355 ships, just a greater proportion of smaller vessels. But to hear Washington spin it they’re talking about a true cut in numbers. Always a good way of winning a political fight: misrepresent the other side before they’ve even begun…

  2. I have to be blunt, the Ticonderoga class cruisers are proper ugly ships! Due to housing the SPY-1A which is split between two separate deck houses, the ship has always looked extremely top heavy.
    The upgrade to the Tico’s will incorporate the new SPY-6 multi-frequency AESA radar. This radar is made up of 2ft square transmitter/receiver modules. It combines both a S band and an X band radar for target detection and tracking. Due to the greater buoyancy over the Arliegh Burkes, the Tico’s can have a larger area AESA panel, giving the radar exo-atmospheric search and tracking. The AB’s batch 1/2s will struggle to have the full size panels, unless they mount them lower, which will compromise their radar horizons.
    One of the US Navy’s plans for the Tico’s, is to turn them into a dedicated air defence ship to guard the carriers etc. This would include quad packed ESSMs, SM3 and SM6 housed within the 120 Mk41 cells. Another addition to the plan would be to house a V247 Vigilant tilt-rotor UAV. The drone would be equipped with a radar to massively extend the ships radar horizon. By extending the horizon gives the ship more time to respond to swarming attacks. The UAV when all folded up has a smaller footprint than a Seahawk, so at least one of each could be carried. (Would be useful for our T45s as well!)

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here