Northrop Grumman Corp. will receive a contract worth as much as $2 billion in 2005 to build the first ship in a new class of destroyers for the Navy, a Navy official said.
The award signals that the Navy has abandoned a plan to hold a competition between Northrop Grumman Ship Systems and General Dynamics Corp.'s Bath Iron Works for the contract, said John Young, assistant secretary of the Navy for acquisition.
