Austal USA has settled to pay $811,259 to the US government, which will put the false claim allegations made against the Alabama shipbuilder to rest.
An update from the Department of Justice issued on 27 August 2024 maintained that the supplier had “violated the False Claims Act by knowingly supplying valves that did not meet military specifications.”
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The company manufactures Independence variant Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) based on a trimaran hull in contrast with its monohull sister, the Freedom variant.
The US government alleges that, under a 2011 Navy contract, Austal invoiced for military grade high performance butterfly valves and triple offset butterfly valves it installed on five LCS hulls knowing the valves had not met the testing requirements to be deemed military grade.
These LCS ships included USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), Omaha (12), Manchester (14), Tulsa (16) and Cincinnati (20).
It should be noted that the latest agreement is neither an admission of liability by Austal nor a concession from the government that its claims are unfounded.
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By GlobalDataWhen asked about the allegations an Austal USA spokesperson told Naval Technology:
“While we did not admit liability in the case, we felt it was in the best interest of the company to settle the investigation and focus our full efforts on executing our programmes for our customers.”
Despite the settlement, legal practitioners within government continued to back the challenge.
“We cannot and will not tolerate companies who cut corners and misrepresent the products they provide to our military,” said US Attorney Todd W. Gee for the Southern District of Mississippi. “This office is committed to protecting taxpayer dollars and will pursue fraud wherever we find it.”
LCS reaches the end of the line
The Independence LCS fleet has reached the end of the line with the christening of the final configuration of the vessel, USS Pierre (LCS 38), in May.
Currently, the US Navy are operating 25 LCS units (11 Freedom class and 14 Independence class) in its fleet, with at least two Independence class and two Freedom class due to be decommissioned later in 2024, or else sold to foreign buyers such as Greece.
The vessels have been plagued by issues throughout their lifetime, to an extent that the US Navy has sought to decommission hulls decades ahead of schedule and develop the Constellation-class FFG to add much-needed combat capability to the service’s battleline.
Notably, all five ships fitted with the valves are still in active service. Austal USA’s spokesperson added that the last time the company delivered the valves to the Navy was over six years ago.
LCS 10 lately operated out of Singapore while LCS 14 conducted flight operations in the South China Sea, a theatre of importance in the US-China rivalry. Like many in the LCS programme, LCS 16 recently came out of an 18-month maintenance period at a dry dock in Portland, Oregon.
