Pentagon Awards $5.1 Billion Overhaul Contract for USS Harry S. Truman

The United States Navy awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries a $5.1 billion fixed-ceiling incentive contract for the refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman. The vessel arrived at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia on Thursday to begin the multi-year project, which is expected to be completed by November 2031. If additional options are exercised, the total contract value could reach $5.2 billion.

The overhaul includes refueling the ship's nuclear reactors and modernizing propulsion plants, combat systems, and thousands of compartments and tanks. Maintenance will also cover repairs to the propellers, sea chests, shafts, and rudders, as well as hull and freeboard blasting and painting. These efforts are designed to support the Nimitz-class carrier's planned service life of over 50 years.

The maintenance follows a 251-day deployment that began in September 2024 and ended in June 2025. A Navy investigation characterized the mission as a "significantly stressful deployment." While the carrier led responses to Houthis in Yemen and conducted the largest carrier-launched airstrike in history, the deployment was marked by a February 2025 collision with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M near Port Said, Egypt, and the loss of three F/A-18 Super Hornets due to a friendly-fire incident, a failed arrested landing, and an accident during evasive maneuvers in the Red Sea.