Austal nets US Navy T-AGOS surveillance ships contract
A rendering of Austal's T-AGOS design. (Image: Austal USA)
The Alabama-based shipyard has received a $113 million contract for detail design of the USN’s Auxiliary General Ocean Surveillance Ship T-AGOS 25 class.
Options under the contract for constructing up to seven ships bring its cumulative potential value to $3.195 billion.
Operated by Military Sealift Command (MSC), T-AGOS ships support anti-submarine warfare operations by offering passive and active acoustic surveillance capabilities.
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The 110m steel ‘small waterplane area twin hull’ (SWATH) vessels measure 110m long and gather data using Surveillance Towed-Array Sensor System (SURTASS) equipment.
The award is the latest steel shipbuilding contract for Austal USA, which also builds the USN’s Towing, Salvage and Rescue (T-ATS) ships and Auxiliary Floating Drydock Medium (AFDM).
The company is also building the USCG's Heritage-class offshore patrol cutters (OPCs).
Austal USA has teamed with L3Harris, Noise Control Engineering, TAI Engineering and Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors to deliver T-AGOS ships from its facility in Mobile, Alabama.
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