Hanwha Philly Shipyard of Philadelphia has been selected to build new missile-range instrumentation vessels (MRIVs) to be operated by the US Navy.
The ship's design will be based on that of the national security multimission vessels (NSMVs), the training and disaster response vessels that Hanwha Philly is building for the US Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration (MARAD).
The US Navy will operate the MRIVs in support of the activities of the Missile Defence Agency, particularly in the Pacific Ocean.
The MRIVs will replace the MARAD's current missile tracking ships Pacific Tracker and Pacific Collector, which were completed in 1965 and 1970, respectively, following conversions of existing vessels.
TOTE Services will be the vessel construction manager (VCM) for the MRIVs, which will form part of the US Department of War's missile defence system. TOTE Services is also the VCM for the MARAD NSMV program.
The two MRIVs will be built at a cost of US$2 billion.
