10-ship Joint High Speed Vessel contract now fully funded
The US Navy has exercised a contract option funding the construction of a tenth Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV), as part of a ten-ship program potentially worth over USD1.6 billion. The construction contract for this vessel is valued at approximately USD166.9 million.
Austal USA's President, Craig Perciavalle, commented: "This is exciting news at Austal USA, coming on the heel of the official delivery of the first JHSV, USNS 'Spearhead', just a couple of weeks ago."
Perciavalle went on to say: "The Austal USA employees have worked hard to reach this significant milestone of a fully-funded Navy contract, and thanks to their dedication, now have many years of solid backlog to look forward to."
As prime contractor, Austal was awarded the construction contract for the first 103 metre JHSV in November 2008, with options for nine additional vessels between FY09 and FY13. The aluminum catamarans are designed to be fast, flexible and manoeuvrable even in shallow waters, making them ideal for transporting troops and equipment quickly within a theater of operations. The ship will support the warfighter through traditional logistics missions, humanitarian support projects, disaster response and by supporting maritime law enforcement activities.
With this award, Austal has been contracted by the US Navy to build ten 103 metre JHSVs under a ten-ship, USD1.6 billion contract, one of which has already been delivered, and six 127 metre Independence-variant LCS class ships (including USS Independence, delivered to the Navy in 2009), four of which are a part of a 10-ship, USD3.5 billion contract.
For the LCS and JHSV programs, Austal, as prime contractor, is teamed with General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics. As the ship systems integrator, General Dynamics is responsible for the design, integration and testing of the ship's electronic systems including the combat system, networks, and sea frame control. General Dynamics' proven open architecture approach allows for affordable and efficient capability growth as technologies develop.
These two contracts will require Austal to increase its Mobile, Alabama workforce to approximately 4,000 employees in order to fulfill the contract requirements.
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