BATH — Bath Iron Works has been awarded a $146 million federal contract modification to continue maintenance and modernization of existing Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

Arleigh Burkes are the primary type of ship produced by BIW, a subsidiary of aerospace and defense company General Dynamics.

The company already performs post-delivery maintenance work on 69 ships, representing two-thirds of the nation’s surface combatants.

“The Navy’s exercise of this option gives General Dynamics Bath Iron Works the opportunity to continue providing post-delivery design, planning and logistics support to the DDG 51 Program, a leadership role we have played for 30 years,” BIW President Dirk Lesko wrote in a statement. “In our performance of this important work it has never been more important for us to deliver on time, every time and we are committed to that goal.”

This contract will run through January 2022, according to a statement from the company.

BIW performs updates and maintenance services in Brunswick and other Arleigh Burke homeports in Virginia, Florida, California, Washington, Hawaii, Spain and Japan.

The Bath shipyard received two similar contract modifications in June.

“This funding will allow BIW’s engineers, designers, and planners to continue providing technical expertise to the Navy and strengthen Maine’s economy,” Sen. Senator Collins, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee and the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, said in a statement Tuesday. “The hardworking and highly skilled men and women at Bath Iron Works build the world’s highest quality ships, and I will always fight to ensure they have the resources they need.”