BAE Systems’ Norfolk shipyard has received a US$204.1 million US Navy contract to provide maintenance services aboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship (LHD) USS Iwo Jima.
Under the selected restricted availability contract awarded, BAE Systems will upgrade shipboard systems to accommodate F-35B Lightning II short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) joint strike fighter flight operations.
Work aboard the LHD will begin in August 2026.
Although Iwo Jima can embark AV-8B Harrier II fixed-wing STOVL aircraft in addition to helicopters and MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, the ship is not certified to conduct routine F-35B flight operations in her current configuration.
Upgrades to the LHD will include modifications to some of her key features such as flight deck infrastructure and support facilities.
Commissioned in 2001, the ship was also used to temporarily hold former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife after they were captured in a large-scale strike conducted by US forces earlier this year. They were later transferred to the United States, where Mr Maduro faces charges of electoral fraud and facilitating narco-terrorism.