Austal nets US Navy T-AGOS surveillance ships contract
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.
Related Articles
Austal Australia converts patrol boat into unmanned vessel
Netherlands to arm ships and submarines with Tomahawk missiles
US Navy anti-sub exercise puts crewed-uncrewed teaming to the test
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.
Related Programmes in Defence Insight
More from Naval Warfare
-
Insight: What is the way forward for the propulsion systems of conventional submarines?
Recent advancements in lithium-ion battery (LIB) technology have led to a resurgence of conventional diesel-electric submarines. As a result, shipbuilders like Naval Group have opted to move away from air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems and instead focus on a range of submarines equipped with a full LIB configuration.
-
HII signs $3 billion national defence contract with US DoD
The contract will let the company feed into the US DoD’s LOGIX programme.
-
US Navy extends life of 12 Arleigh Burke destroyers
The decision is intended to squeeze the Navy’s prize assets in a fiscally challenging economy.