Brenda Marie Rivers
Huntington Ingalls Industries landed the future USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier’s island onto its flight deck during a ceremony at the firm’s Newport News location.
The island, whose installation marks the U.S. Navy ship’s 90 percent completion, is 72 feet tall and will handle the flight deck’s command-and-control operations, HII said Wednesday.
Over 2K suppliers and 4.5K workers support CVN 79’s construction through modernized manufacturing procedures such as 3D data operations.
“Reaching this milestone on schedule demonstrates the significant lessons learned we are applying to this ship’s construction, as well as the strides we’ve made to use new technologies to gain efficiencies,†said Jennifer Boykin, president of HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding arm.
HII is slated to transition the USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier from dry dock operations to outfitting ahead of its launching in late 2019.
