Austal wins US Navy’s LCS contract

Austal has received a contract worth up to AUD779 million ($584m) to build the 14th Littoral Combat Ship (LCS 28) for the US Navy, the company announced on 25 June.

The 127m LCS 28 will be built at the company’s shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, while certain subsystems will be manufactured at the Austal’s Henderson facility in Western Australia, as part of a continuation of its successful subcontract collaboration with the US.

David Singleton, CEO, Austal, said: ‘While I am obviously happy for Austal I am also delighted in the vote of confidence this delivers for Australian shipbuilding and design. Should we win the $3 billion Offshore Patrol Vessel contract for the Royal Australian Navy, we intend to introduce many of the advanced manufacturing techniques and efficiency gains perfected in the US into our local operations.’

The US Navy is expected to order two more LCS vessels in the current US financial year. To date, Austal’s total order for the Independence-class LCS have totalled approximately $8 billion, which equates to approximately 75% of the likely value of the entire Australian Government frigate construction programme.