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The U.S. Department of War has awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) a $5.1 billion contract to carry out the refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, preparing the ship for the second half of its service life.

The work will be performed at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding facility in Virginia and will include reactor refueling, major upgrades to the propulsion plant and combat systems, and extensive maintenance and modernization across thousands of compartments, tanks, and other parts of the ship. Additional contract options could increase the total value to about $5.18 billion.

The USS Harry S. Truman arrived at Newport News Shipbuilding on September 30, 2026, to begin the major mid-life overhaul. The work is expected to be completed by November 2031.

The RCOH is one of the most extensive maintenance periods in the life of a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. HII says the process accounts for nearly one-third of the maintenance and modernization carried out on a carrier over its expected service life of more than 50 years.

The overhaul is intended to keep the carrier operational for the second half of its service life and extend the usefulness of the ship as part of the U.S. Navy’s carrier fleet.

The contract uses a Fixed Ceiling Incentive structure intended to share cost and schedule risks while encouraging the shipbuilder to meet required delivery dates. The agreement also includes additional options that could bring the overall value to approximately $5.18 billion.

The USS Harry S. Truman is the eighth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier to undergo an RCOH at Newport News Shipbuilding.

Preparation Before Arrival

Newport News Shipbuilding began preparing for the project well before Truman reached the shipyard. The company carried out thousands of inspections and preliminary tasks and ordered materials with long procurement timelines to support the overhaul.

Bryan Caccavale, vice president of program management at Newport News Shipbuilding, said the company had taken a proactive approach to preparing for the project and would continue working with suppliers and Navy partners throughout the overhaul.

The preparation is important because an RCOH involves work across much of the carrier rather than a single system or part of the ship. Reactor work, propulsion upgrades, combat-system modernization, and structural maintenance must be coordinated during the same major overhaul period.

The overhaul is intended to refuel the carrier’s reactors and modernize, upgrade, and repair major ship systems for the second half of its planned service life.

Recent Combat Deployment

The overhaul follows one of the most active deployments in Truman’s operational history. The carrier recently completed a 251-day deployment during which its aircraft conducted extensive combat operations.

During the deployment, the carrier reportedly fired more than 1.1 million pounds of ordnance and carried out what U.S. officials described as the largest carrier-launched airstrike in Navy history.

The deployment also included several serious incidents involving the carrier and its aircraft. In February 2025, Truman collided with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M near Port Said, Egypt.

The incident led to an investigation and the subsequent removal of Truman’s commanding officer, Capt. Dave Snowden, after the Navy determined that it had lost confidence in his ability to command the carrier.

The carrier also lost three F/A-18 Super Hornets during the deployment. One aircraft was shot down by the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg in a friendly-fire incident.

Another F/A-18 was lost during an attempted arrested landing after the No. 4 arresting wire failed. A third F/A-18 was lost from the hangar bay while being towed as the carrier conducted evasive maneuvers in response to an incoming ballistic missile.

The incidents occurred during a deployment that included sustained combat operations against Houthi targets in Yemen.

Preparing Truman for the Fleet’s Future

USS Harry S. Truman is a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and is homeported at Naval Station Norfolk. Like other carriers in the class, it was designed for a service life extending beyond five decades, making its mid-life overhaul a central part of maintaining the Navy’s carrier force.

The RCOH is more than routine maintenance. Reactor refueling and modernization of major ship systems provide an opportunity to replace aging equipment, upgrade capabilities, and carry out structural work that would be difficult to complete during normal maintenance periods.

The overhaul will therefore affect both the physical condition of the ship and its ability to operate with newer Navy systems during the latter part of its service life.

The scale of the work also reflects the complexity of maintaining nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. Thousands of spaces, tanks and systems must be inspected, repaired or modernized, while major work is carried out on the propulsion and combat systems.

Newport News Shipbuilding is the only U.S. shipyard that designs, builds and refuels nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, making it the central location for the Navy’s carrier RCOH program.

Completion Expected in 2031

The Navy has not provided a more detailed public schedule for individual stages of Truman’s overhaul, but the contract sets November 2031 as the expected completion date.

The project will be the latest major RCOH carried out by Newport News Shipbuilding as the Navy continues to maintain its existing Nimitz-class carriers while introducing and operating the newer Gerald R. Ford-class carriers.

The $5.1 billion project represents a major investment in keeping one of the Navy’s nuclear-powered carriers operational into the later decades of its planned service life. Once the overhaul is completed, the carrier is expected to return to the fleet with refueled reactors, upgraded propulsion and combat systems, and extensive modernization throughout the ship.