Aaron Bresnahan posted on February 01, 2012 11:46
A reprint from AUSTAL PRESS RELEASE - August 3, 2011
Austal is proud to announce that the first aluminum has
been cut for Austal’s third littoral combat ship (LCS),
JACKSON (LCS 6). After completing a successful
Production Readiness Review (PRR) last week, the
U.S. Navy issued instructions to move ahead with production.
U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus personally visited Austal’s
Mobile, Alabama, shipyard recently to announce the name
of the first two ships of Austal’s latest 10-ship LCS order,
worth over US$3.5 billion, awarded at the end of 2010. The
construction contract for MONTGOMERY (LCS 8), valued
at US$368.6 million, was announced earlier this year.
“JACKSON will be the first littoral combat ship to fully
realize the efficiencies from Austal’s Modular Manufacturing
Facility (MMF),” said Austal USA’s President and Chief
Operating Officer, Joe Rella.
“The MMF helps us bring the efficiency of a high-tech
assembly line to shipbuilding, giving taxpayers the best value
possible.”
This production milestone comes at a busy time for the
shipyard. Austal is preparing to launch its first-of-class joint
high speed vessel, SPEARHEAD (JHSV 1), this month, and the
second INDEPENDENCE-variant littoral combat ship class,
CORONADO (LCS 4) later this year. Austal is also under contract
to build 7 JHSVs, with VIGILANT (JHSV 2) construction
well underway in the MMF.
For the LCS and JHSV programs, Austal 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 seaframe control. General
Dynamics’ proven open architecture approach provides
affordable capabilities to the fleet quickly and efficiently.
These two contracts will require Austal to more than
double its Mobile, Alabama, workforce to approximately
3,800 employees in order to fulfill the contract requirements.
“With almost ten percent of these workers expected to
reside in the neighboring states of Florida and Mississippi,
we are proud that Austal is an engine of regional growth
for the Gulf,” said Austal USA President and COO, Joe Rella.
For information regarding available positions at Austal
USA, visit www.austaljobs.com.
Further information contact: Austal
Phone: 61 8 9410 1111
Fax: 61 8 9410 2564
E-mail: pubrel@austal.com