WASHINGTON – Moving forward on its plan to have the next-generation destroyer built in six years, the Navy awarded Bath Iron Works – which leads one of two competing teams of defense contractors – more than $2.6 million to take its design of the destroyer to the next level.

This second design phase of the DD-21 destroyer will focus on the architecture of the ship based on the Navy’s prerequisites for surveillance, presence and combat features. A decision on a ship design is expected this summer and the first ship award is expected in 2004.

The Navy started planning how it wanted its new destroyer to look and what it would be capable of doing in the mid-1990s based on expected military needs.

“One of the most important things is that its design is revolutionary and we expect it will lead to a decrease in [manpower] on the ship,” said Lt. Bill Speaks, a Navy spokesman.

The DD-21 is expected to reduce the number of people needed to run its destroyers from 360 per ship to between 95 and 150.

The Bath team, which includes Lockheed Martin Corp., Northrup Grumman and SAIC Corp. is competing against Ingalls Shipbuilding, Raytheon Systems and Boeing.