US commissions latest Littoral Combat Ship, as Austal execs face fraud charges
USS Santa Barbara pictured ahead of its commissioning. (Photo: US DoD)
On April 1, the USN commissioned the latest Austal USA-built Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), USS Santa Barbara (LCS 32), shortly after a federal grand jury indictment charging three Alabama men with orchestrating an accounting fraud scheme at the shipbuilder.
According to court documents, the three men and their co-conspirators allegedly conspired to mislead shareholders and the public about Austal USA’s financial position.
In a press release, the Department of Justice (DoJ) said the defendants are alleged to have ‘artificially reduced and suppressed an accounting metric known as “estimate at completion” (EAC) in relation to multiple LCS ships that Austal USA was building for the US Navy’.
Suppression of the EACs allegedly falsely overstated the company’s reported earnings in public financial statements.
The EAC figures were allegedly manipulated in part by using ‘programme challenges’, or cost-savings goals, that were in
Our news & analysis is now part of Defence Insight®
A Basic-level or higher Defence Insight subscription is now required to view this content.
More from Naval Warfare
-
![US Navy expands non-standard acquisitions to rapidly field emerging technologies]()
US Navy expands non-standard acquisitions to rapidly field emerging technologies
The US Navy is increasing the use of OTA obligations to accelerate the procurement of seabed-subsea, littoral, expeditionary and uncrewed solutions.
-
![Can Portugal solve NATO’s uncrewed systems development challenge?]()
Can Portugal solve NATO’s uncrewed systems development challenge?
NATO has spent more than a decade building one of the world’s most sophisticated maritime uncrewed experimentation ecosystems, but still lacks a way to translate this testing into alliance-wide operational capability. Portugal now believes it has the answer.
-
![Eurosatory 2026: Schiebel’s frigate-first strategy indicates a shift in UAV competition]()
Eurosatory 2026: Schiebel’s frigate-first strategy indicates a shift in UAV competition
Schiebel is pursuing opportunities in the UK and France while leveraging its integration with Naval Group’s FDI frigate programme to create new naval business across Europe.
