Austal awarded LCS 36 and 38 contract

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded Austal USA a contract to build two additional Independence-class littoral combat ships for the US Navy.

For competition reasons, the navy has not announced the actual contract value but has stated that award is under the congressional cost cap of US$584 million per ship.

With nine delivered, and a further ten vessels either under construction or awaiting construction, these two additional ships represent Austal’s eighteenth and nineteenth ships in the Independence-class.