US Navy's USS Pinckney destroyer enters second major upgrade period following NASSCO $149 million award.

The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command awarded General Dynamics NASSCO a $149.6 million contract for a Chief of Naval Operations Availability on the USS Pinckney (DDG-91) in San Diego. This 24-month depot period represents phase two of the Flight IIA destroyer’s DDG MOD 2.0 sequence, incorporating Raytheon’s AN/SPY-6(V)4 radar alongside Aegis combat system upgrades following initial SEWIP Block III installation. The $270.6 million combined shipyard investment validates the U.S. Navy's phased modernization model across approximately 20 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

The $149.6 million fixed-price incentive-fee award funds labor, equipment, facilities, and integration work at NASSCO San Diego through September 2028, with options extending potential value to $149.9 million. Operating under FY2026 Other Procurement funding, the effort integrates 96 SPY-6(V)4 Radar Modular Assemblies into the existing Flight IIA hull power structure following the ship’s 257-day deployment.

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The USS Pinckney (DDG-91) previously received a $121 million contract award for its first major DDG MOD 2.0 depot modernization period, which ran from November 2021 to November 2023. (Picture source: US Navy)

On September 5, 2026, the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command awarded General Dynamics NASSCO $149.6 million for a Chief of Naval Operations Availability on the USS Pinckney (DDG-91), beginning the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer's second major DDG MOD 2.0 depot period only 27 days after its August 9 return to San Diego. Options could raise the fixed-price incentive-fee award to $149.9 million, with work at NASSCO San Diego running through September 2028 and covering labor, equipment, testing, facilities, quality assurance, repair, and modernization. Under FY2026 Other Procurement, the U.S. Navy provides $135.8 million, or 90.8% of the base value, while $13.8 million comes from other appropriations; $12.9 million, equal to 8.6% of the award, expires at the end of FY2026 unless obligated.

Combined with NASSCO's $121 million 2021-2023 modernization, the USS Pinckney has now received $270.6 million in two major yard awards, excluding separately procured radar, combat system equipment, government-furnished material, engineering and testing. The new availability creates another roughly 24-month industrial period, closely matching the USS Pinckney's first modernization after it entered NASSCO on November 17, 2021, and began sea trials in November 2023. Between the two periods, the ship returned to fleet operations and deployed from November 25, 2025, to August 9, 2026. This implements the two-stage sequence established for the first DDG MOD 2.0 ships: SEWIP Block III and supporting alterations first, operational service second, then SPY-6(V)4 and associated Aegis modernization.

The $149.6 million is a shipyard integration and maintenance award rather than the price of the radar itself, and the Navy has not specified how much of the SPY-6 installation is funded inside this contract rather than through separate equipment and integration accounts. The USS Pinckney is a 22-year-old Flight IIA hull, contracted on March 6, 1998, laid down on July 16, 2001, launched on June 26, 2002, and commissioned on May 29, 2004. The destroyer measures 155 m by 20.4 m, draws 9.3 m, and displaces roughly 9,200 tons at full load; four General Electric LM2500 gas turbines drive two shafts for a 32-knot maximum speed. Its roughly 320-person crew operates two Mk 41 VLS groups, a Mk 45 5-inch/62-caliber gun, a Phalanx CIWS, two triple Mk 32 torpedo launchers, two Mk 38 Mod 2 25 mm systems, and aviation facilities for two SH-60/MH-60 helicopters.

The DDG MOD 2.0 upgrade retains this propulsion, launcher, and basic electrical architecture while inserting new radar, electronic warfare, computing, and cooling equipment into the existing Flight IIA design. For instance, the $121 million 2021-2023 phase installed Northrop Grumman's AN/SLQ-32(V)7 SEWIP Block III, with its equipment housed in prominent two-deck-high sponsons added to both sides of Pinckney's superstructure. NASSCO simultaneously conducted hull, mechanical, engineering, and combat system work and installed additional cooling capacity for SEWIP and the later radar backfit. Extra cooling, rather than replacement of the propulsion or electrical-generation plant, was identified as the principal supporting ship alteration required for the combined modernization.

The USS Pinckney then left the yard for sea trials in November 2023 and subsequently became the first U.S. Navy destroyer to deploy with the AN/SLQ-32(V)7, putting the phase-one configuration through an extended operational cycle before returning for phase two. Phase two will replace the AN/SPY-1D(V) radar with Raytheon's AN/SPY-6(V)4, using 24 2-ft by 2-ft Radar Modular Assemblies (RMAs) on each of four fixed faces, or 96 RMAs overall. The Flight III's larger SPY-6 configuration uses 37 per face and 148 total, so the USS Pinckney still receives 13 fewer modules per face and 52 fewer overall, or 64.9% of the Flight III RMA count. The smaller V4 configuration can operate within the Flight IIA's existing electrical-power capacity, avoiding the extensive power-generation and distribution changes incorporated into Flight III construction.

Raytheon had started manufacturing the USS Pinckney's modules by January 2024, with an installation planned for 2027, directly within the September 2026-September 2028 window of availability. The interval between depot periods included roughly 257 deployed days from November 25, 2025, to August 9, 2026. The USS Pinckney covered more than 48,000 nautical miles, or 88,896 km, across U.S. 3rd, 7th, and 5th Fleet areas, completed 24 replenishments at sea, averaging one every 10.7 days, and accumulated 534 HSM-37 flight hours, equal to 2.08 hours per deployed day. After a forward repair and maintenance exercise in Singapore, the destroyer shifted to the Middle East, supported Operation Epic Fury and participated in blockade operations.

The USS Pinckney and HSM-37 conducted maritime interdictions involving 11 commercial vessels, remained in the Middle East until June 22, subsequently operated in the Philippine Sea through at least July 13, and returned to San Diego on August 9. The USS Pinckney leads a four-ship DDG MOD 2.0 learning group with USS Chung-Hoon (DDG-93), USS James E. Williams (DDG-95), and USS Halsey (DDG-97). By June 26, 2026, the Chung-Hoon and James E. Williams had completed combat-system sea trials, calibration, and shakedown ahead of schedule, becoming the second and third SEWIP Block III-equipped destroyers, while the Halsey remained in modernization.

The initial wider plan covered roughly 20 Flight IIA destroyers for an estimated $17 billion, equivalent to $850 million per hull if divided evenly, although that includes radar, EW equipment, combat systems, engineering, government-furnished material, testing, and shipyard work. For comparison, nearly $4 billion was spent modernizing seven Ticonderoga-class cruisers, a simple average of roughly $571 million per ship, without obtaining the intended service-life extension. The USS Pinckney's two NASSCO awards total $270.6 million, and its two principal DDG MOD 2.0 depot periods amount to roughly four years of industrial work, separated by testing, training and deployment.

That yard total equals 31.8% of the $850 million-per-ship arithmetic implied by a $17 billion, 20-hull program, illustrating how much spending sits outside the principal shipyard awards. The September 2028 completion date is therefore a measurable program benchmark: a six-month overrun repeated across 20 ships would create 120 additional ship-months of non-availability, equivalent to ten destroyer-years. The USS Pinckney will test whether 96 SPY-6(V)4 RMAs, SEWIP Block III, increased cooling, and updated Aegis equipment can be integrated into a 2004 Flight IIA Arleigh Burke destroyer without new propulsion or electrical-generation architecture while keeping the second depot period near 24 months.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.