The US Navy has awarded a $171m contract to Northrop Grumman to provide long-lead materials for the company’s Aegis Class DDG 51 destroyer programme.

Under the contract, the company will procure long lead time materials and major equipment for the construction of the DDG 113 including main propulsion engines, gas turbine generators, propellers and air conditioning systems.

The new ship is a DDG 51 Arleigh Burke Class guided missile destroyer, a multimission surface combatant equipped with Aegis combat system intended for air defence and mid-ocean operations.

Work will be carried out at the company’s Pascagoula shipyard and is expected to be complete in 2010. Northrop Grumman has already delivered 26 of 28 ships.