PASCAGOULA, Miss., April 1, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII) announced today a U.S. Navy contract awarded to its Ingalls Shipbuilding division for the construction of the 10^th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock. The contract, worth $1.5 billion, will be used to build John P. Murtha (LPD 26), with construction expected to start in May.

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Huntington Ingalls Industries, America's largest military shipbuilder, was previously a business sector of Northrop Grumman Corp. until effectively separating on March 31 in a spinoff of the company to shareholders.

"This is the first contract awarded to our new company, and our shipbuilders are excited about continuing the LPD product line," said Irwin F. Edenzon, corporate vice president and general manager, Gulf Coast Operations. "More than 1,500 shipbuilders will be working on LPD 26 over the next four years, and our focus will be on safety, quality, cost and schedule. We've been working hard for the last three years making some changes and focusing on important process improvements. I am confident that LPD 26 will be a great ship, and that is our commitment to the sailors and Marines who will serve on her."

Ingalls Shipbuilding has delivered the first five ships of the San Antonio class, LPDs 17-21. San Diego (LPD 22) will undergo sea trials this summer; Anchorage (LPD 23) will be christened at the company's Avondale facility on May 14; Arlington (LPD 24) was christened on March 26, and Somerset (LPD 25) is 40 percent complete and will be launched in 2012.

The 11 planned ships of the San Antonio class are a key element of the Navy's ability to project power ashore. Collectively, these ships functionally replace more than 41 ships (the LPD 4, LSD 36, LKA 113 and LST 1179 classes of amphibious ships), providing the Navy and Marine Corps with modern, sea-based platforms that are networked and survivable and built to operate with 21st century platforms, such as the MV-22 Osprey.

The San Antonio-class ships are 684 feet long and 105 feet wide and displace approximately 25,000 tons. Their principal mission is to deploy the combat and support elements of Marine Expeditionary Units and Brigades. The ships can carry up to 800 troops and have the capability of transporting and debarking air cushion (LCAC) or conventional landing crafts, augmented by helicopters or vertical take-off and landing aircraft such as the MV-22. These ships will support amphibious assault, special operations or expeditionary warfare missions through the first half of the 21st century.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) designs, builds and maintains nuclear and non-nuclear ships for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard and provides after-market services for military ships around the globe. For more than a century, HII has built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder. Employing nearly 38,000 in Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana and California, its primary business divisions are Newport News Shipbuilding and Ingalls Shipbuilding. For more information, please visit www.huntingtoningalls.com.

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Statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in these statements. Factors that may cause such differences include: changes in government and customer priorities and requirements (including government budgetary constraints, shifts in defense spending, and changes in customer short-range and long-range plans); our ability to obtain new contracts, estimate our costs and perform effectively; risks related to our spin-off from Northrop Grumman (including our increased costs and leverage); our ability to realize the expected benefits from consolidation of our Gulf Coast facilities; natural disasters; adverse economic conditions in the United States and globally; and other risk factors discussed in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. There may be other risks and uncertainties that we are unable to predict at this time or that we currently do not expect to have a material adverse effect on our business, and we undertake no obligations to update any forward-looking statements.