By Xinhua,
Los Angeles : California-based company Northrop Grumman said it has bagged a $5.1 billion contract from the US Navy to build its next-generation aircraft carrier.
The new aircraft is named after late US president Gerald R. Ford.
The company Thursday said it would be the first of a new class of US aircraft carrier in more than 40 years.
The new Ford-class aircraft will replace the navy’s nuclear-powered Nimitz-class carriers that have been in service since early 1970s, Northrop said. The first carrier will be ready in 2015.
“This contract is an important milestone for our company,” Matt Mulherin, vice president and general manager for Northrop’s shipbuilding operations, said.
The announcement came one day after Pentagon cancelled the bidding for a $35 billion contract to build aerial refuelling planes for the Air Force. Northrop and Boeing were to take part in the bidding.