Nichols Martin
Huntington Ingalls Industries‘ Ingalls Shipbuilding division has begun to fabricate the first guided missile destroyer that will employ the U.S. Navy‘s Flight III design upgrade.
The company said Tuesday it cut the first 100 tons of steel needed to construct the future Arleigh Burke-class Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125) ship.
HII will equip DDG 125 with an Advanced Missile Defense Radar technology instead of the SPY-1 radar currently installed on destroyers of the same class.
USS Lucas is the last of five Arleigh Burke-class destroyers that the company will build under a multiyear contract the Navy awarded in June 2013.
The service branch named the ship after a U.S. Marine who became the youngest World War IIÂ service member to receive the Medal of Honor.
Other destroyers being built at Ingalls Shipbuilding’ facility are called Paul Ignatius, Delbert D. Black, Frank E. Petersen Jr. and Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee.
