NEWPORT NEWS, Va., October 13, 2000 –Newport News Shipbuilding (NYSE: NNS), announced today that the U. S. Navy has awarded the company a contract valued at approximately $161 million for research and design development engineering services in support of the future aircraft carrier program, CVNX.

Work performed under the contract will include research and development tasks such as systems specifications, design weight estimates, preliminary logistics data, electromagnetic aircraft launching system design integration and preliminary construction planning.

Newport News Shipbuilding is currently performing design work and preliminary construction for the transition ship to the new class of carriers, CVN-77. It is scheduled for delivery in 2008. Construction of the first ship of the new class of carriers, CVNX-1, is scheduled to begin in 2006 with the second ship CVNX-2, several years thereafter. CVNX-1 and X-2 will be the first two ships in a new 21st-century generation of aircraft carriers. Starting with CVN -77 and culminating with CVNX-2, a host of technological improvements will be introduced to lower operating costs and improve combat capabilities.

Newport News Shipbuilding designs and constructs nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines for the U.S. Navy and provides life-cycle services for ships in the Navy fleet. The company employs nearly 17,000 people and has annual revenues of approximately $2 billion. Visit NNS on the Web at www.nns.com.