Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula has been selected to build the U.S. Navy’s next large-deck amphibious assault warship.

The announcement was made Thursday in a news release.

The contract value for planning, advanced engineering and procurement of long-lead material, is just over $272 million.

If options are exercised, the cumulative value of the contract would be $3.1 billion.

Ingalls is the sole builder of large-deck amphibious ships for the Navy.

Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Cuccias says Ingalls’ 800-acre shipbuilding facility is optimized to build several classes of complex ships simultaneously.