Austal USA, the US subsidiary of the Australian shipbuilder, has been awarded an additional $16.5 million contract for service work on one of US Navy’s Independence-class littoral combat ships.
Specifically, the United States Department of Defence has awarded Austal USA $16,459,663 for a cost-plus-award fee against a previously awarded basic ordering agreement.
The order provides engineering and management services in support of work specification development, prefabrication effort and material procurement for post-shakedown availability for the USS Charleston (LCS 18).
Austal will provide program management, advanced planning, engineering, design, prefabrication and material kitting.
The work will be conducted by Austal USA across the Mobile, Alabama and San Diego, California facilities and completed by August 2019.
The littoral combat ship is a 127-meter-long, frigate sized vessel. Originally designed in Henderson, Western Australia, these vessels are built at Austal facilities in Mobile, Alabama.
The program is in a full rate of production with several ships under construction simultaneously. With the additional two vessel order, there will be seventeen Independence class vessels in service with the US Navy by the end of 2023.