BATH – Bath Iron Works shipbuilding company will get an extra $76 million from the U.S. Navy under a modification of a previously awarded contract on the DDG 51-Class Aegis destroyer program.

Under the option, BIW will provide technical assistance to another shipyard with the designs developed by BIW for the Aegis destroyers. Company officials said the award will have no effect on the BIW work force.

The award is the first option year of a two-year engineering services contract initially awarded in November 2002. The work will be completed by next November.

BIW is a subsidiary of General Dynamics in Falls Church, Va., and one of the largest employers in Maine.