Austal has secured a new A$779m ($584m) contract to construct the Independence-class littoral combat ship (LCS 28) for the US Navy.

The 127m-long vessel will be the 14th LCS to be built at the company’s shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, US.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Premium Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

Related Company Profiles

View all

Austal CEO David Singleton said: “While I am obviously happy for Austal I am also delighted in the vote of confidence this delivers for Australian shipbuilding and design.

“We won this award following a direct competition with the Freedom-class LCS, which says much for our cost efficiency on this programme.

“Austal’s work on the LCS programme at our advanced module manufacturing facility (MMF) has seen efficiency gains of 20% with an ambitious target of 35 set for the end of the build cycle.”

See Also:

"We won this award following a direct competition with the Freedom-class LCS, which says much for our cost efficiency on this programme."

Manufacturing work of certain contracted subsystems will be carried out at Austal’s Henderson facility in Western Australia, as part of a continuation of its successful subcontract collaboration with the US.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

The navy is expected to order up to two additional LCS vessels from Austal before the end of the current US financial year.

Austal’s orders for Independence-class vessels have totalled nearly A$8bn ($6.07bn) to date, which is equivalent to about 75% of the approximate value of the entire Australian Government's frigate construction programme.

The company previously delivered two ships to the US Navy last year, while two more are slated to be supplied this year.

The Austal-built fifth LCS USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) was commissioned into the fleet last weekend, and seven more LCS vessels are currently under various phases of construction.