Incumbent loses out as Austal USA wins follow-on Offshore Patrol Cutter contract
Offshore Patrol Cutter production at Eastern Shipbuilding. (Photo: Eastern Shipbuilding)
Austal will leverage its new steel shipbuilding facility to build up to 11 Heritage-class OPCs for the US Coast Guard.
The US Coast Guard (USCG) has selected Alabama-based Austal USA to build up to 11 Heritage-class Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPCs) over the incumbent, Florida-based Eastern Shipbuilding.
The contract, awarded on 30 June, is worth an initial $208.26 million to construct the fifth OPC, which will be the first of the class not built at Eastern Shipbuilding's Panama City yard.
On April 26, Eastern Shipbuilding announced the USCG had awarded a contract for the construction of the fourth Heritage-class OPC, the future USCGC Rush.
If the USCG exercises all options within the new contract, building the 11 ships would be
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