{"id":58398,"date":"2018-08-25T02:10:54","date_gmt":"2018-08-25T02:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/08\/25\/with-294-million-in-contracts-the-us-navy-keeps-its-promise-to-upgrade-cruisers\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:24:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:24:28","slug":"with-294-million-in-contracts-the-us-navy-keeps-its-promise-to-upgrade-cruisers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2018\/08\/25\/with-294-million-in-contracts-the-us-navy-keeps-its-promise-to-upgrade-cruisers\/","title":{"rendered":"With $294 million in contracts, the US Navy keeps its promise to upgrade cruisers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Navy is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to modernizing its cruisers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego, California, and Virginia-based BAE Systems Norfolk have both received roughly $147 million contracts to modernize the cruisers<\/a> Cowpens and Gettysburg, which have been in layup since the fall of 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contracts appear to fulfill a promise made to Congress three years ago that they would not move to decommission the aging warships, which serve in the fleet as the primary air defense platforms for protecting the aircraft carriers, something lawmakers were skeptical of when the Navy first advanced its cruiser modernization plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contracts, aimed at the maintenance, modernization and repair of the hulls, come as the ships enter their last year in the program known as the \u201c2-4-6 plan,\u201d which allowed the Navy to lay up two cruisers a year, for no more than four years and allow no more than six of the ships to undergo modernization at any one time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Cowpens and Gettysburg were put into phased modernization in 2015, meaning they\u2019ll need to come out in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\t