JHSV 6 and 7 contract goes to Austal
Austal’s LCS is to be joined by further JHSV craft for the US military
Austal Ships reports that the US Navy has exercised contract options funding the construction of the sixth and seventh Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV), as part of a 10-ship $1.6 billion programme.
Austal values the construction contract for the two latest vessels at about $313 million. As prime contractor, Austal was awarded the construction contract for the first 103m JHSV in November 2008, with options for nine additional vessels between 2009 and 2013. The Austal JHSV team includes platform systems engineering agent General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, which is responsible for the design, integration and testing of the ship’s mission systems, including internal and external communications, electronic navigation, and aviation and armament systems.
Austal received authorisation from the Navy to start construction on the first vessel of the contract, Spearhead (JHSV 1), in December 2009 after completing the design over a 12-month period. Spearhead is scheduled for launch in August 2011 and delivery in December 2011. Construction of Vigilant (JHSV 2), began at Austal’s Mobile, Alabama, USA shipyard in September 2010.
In addition, Austal is currently building a second Independence-variant 127m Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) for the US Navy, Coronado (LCS 4), which is scheduled for launch in September 2011. As prime contractor, Austal recently received a US Navy contract for construction of up to an additional 10 Littoral Combat Ships, including Jackson (LCS 6) and Montgomery (LCS 8), to be appropriated in the following five years, with a total value in excess of $3.5 billion. Once commissioned, these 10 vessels will join the Austal-built USS Independence (LCS 2) which was commissioned in January 2010.
Austal Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Bellamy, said that this contract demonstrates the US Navy’s confidence in Austal as a defence prime contractor: “With options remaining for a further three vessels, the JHSV program is expected to deliver a predictable revenue stream of Aus$ 330 million per annum from 2012 to 2015, which is approximately 60% of Austal’s historical revenue.”
Austal USA’s president and COO Joe Rella remarked: “this award facilitates the continued development and growth of our US operations, as well as the expansion of our Alabama workforce from over 2,000 to nearly 4,000."
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