An HII shipbuilding division has launched the U.S. Navy’s third Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, which will be used to bolster the service branch’s operations.
DDG 128, named in honor of former U.S. senator Ted Stevens, is scheduled for christening on Saturday, HII said Tuesday.
The vessel is capable of fighting multiple air, surface and subsurface threats simultaneously as well as conducting peacetime presence, crisis management, sea control and power projection activities.
HII has so far delivered 35 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to the Navy and has recently secured a multi-year procurement contract to build six more destroyers.
Currently, there are four Flight IIIs under construction at the shipbuilder’s facility in Pascagoula, Mississippi.