Austal Australia has completed the keel laying for two 72m high-speed support vessels (HSSVs), which will be deployed by the Royal Navy of Oman (RNO).

Work under the $124.9m contract, which was awarded in March, also involves design, construction and integrated logistics support.

The vessels will be delivered by late 2016 and designed and constructed at Austal’s Australian shipyard.

"Work under the $124.9m contract, which was awarded in March, also involves design, construction and integrated logistics support."

Royal Navy of Oman Representatives (RNOR) captain Abdulhameed Al Sinani said: "This is a very important occasion of the keel laying milestone of project Bahr Oman."

In October, Singapore Technologies Marine (ST Marine) christened the first of four Al-Ofouq-class patrol vessels as Al Seeb, following its keel-laying on 29 March 2013 and technical launch in January.

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The RNO also received Al Rasikh, the last of three Khareef-class corvettes, from BAE Systems, as part of a £400m contract awarded in 2007.

In addition to the HSSVs for the RNO, Austal is building eight Cape-class patrol boats for the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, four of which have already been delivered.

Austal USA has also been awarded a contract for the design and construction of ten littoral combat ships (LCS) and ten joint high speed vessels (JHSV) for the US Navy.