Contract: Lockheed Martin, $7.5M

Lockheed Martin MS2, Moorestown, N.J., was awarded a $7,500,000 modification to previously awarded contract to exercise an option for engineering services for DDG 51 class and CG 47 class Aegis combat system installation, integration and test, and fleet life cycle engineering support for the program executive officer for Integrated Warfare Systems. Some of the work, 1 percent, will be done in Pascagoula, Miss. Half the work will be done in New Jersey, and the rest in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Ohio, Florida, California, and Maine. Work is expected to be completed by September 2011. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 02/25/11)

Latest destroyer delivered to Navy

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - The Navy welcomed its latest destroyer Wednesday afternoon after accepting ownership of the William P. Lawrence during a ceremony at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding's Pascagoula shipyard. The ship, which is 510 feet long and carries a 276-person crew, will be capable of simultaneously fighting air, surface and subsurface battles. The ship will leave Pascagoula May 19. (Source: Mississippi Press, 02/24/11)

Austal tax break goes up

MOBILE, Ala. - Austal USA decided to spend more on its latest expansion and will get a bigger tax break. The Mobile City Industrial Development Board voted Wednesday to exempt Austal from some $19.7 million in sales and nonschool property taxes over the next 10 years, up from the $8.9 million in tax breaks that were approved a month ago. The additional work drove up the cost of the work from $75 million to $145 million. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 02/24/11)

Destroyer's mast antenna breaks off

The upper part of the mast on the destroyer USS Gravely broke off Sunday off the northern Florida coast while conducting routine operations, the Navy said. The damage was to the mast mounted antenna. Nobody was injured and the ship safely returned to Mayport, Fla. The Gravely, DDG 107, was build by Northrop Grumman at its Pascagoula shipyard. The ship was commissioned in November. (Source: Navy Times, 02/15/11)

VT Halter gets contract

PASCAGOULA, Miss. – VT Halter Marine has won a $144 million contract to build a second carrier vessel for a Hawaii company, officials said. The company will build a roll-on/roll-off car/truck carrier for Pasha Hawaii by fall of 2013 that will provide weekly service between the West Coast and Hawaii. The company also signed an option agreement for the construction of a third vessel with a base price of $137 million. (Source: Sun Herald, 02/16/11)

Keel laid for new survey ship

MOSS POINT, Miss. - VT Halter Marine laid the keel Tuesday of a multimillion-dollar Navy research vessel named after Matthew Fontaine Maury, the father of modern oceanography. The T-AGS 66 research vessel is 253 feet long and can carry a crew of 67. It will take about 18 months to complete the ship, officials said. VT Halter Marine has about 1,800 employees at its Moss Point, Pascagoula and Escatawpa yards. (Sources: WLOX-TV, 02/01/11, Mississippi Press, 02/02/11)