Austal USA has been awarded a Sustainment Execution Contract (SEC) by the US Navy (USN) enabling the company to bid for repair, maintain and modernisation work on Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) homeported in San Diego, California, as the prime contractor.
Until this award Austal USA could only perform these roles as a subcontractor, so was reliant on other SEC holders to award it work.
The ‘SEC-West’ contract significantly expands the reach of Austal USA’s sustainment business in the US, which will include service centres in Mobile, Alabama and San Diego, California. Austal USA also provides support to USN vessels operating in South East Asia from a service centre located in Singapore. The SEC West contract will commence immediately and is anticipated to run for a period of five years.
“Austal USA has not only been constructing some of the most impressive warships in the United States Navy, but also providing ongoing service and support to those vessels, operating throughout the west coast of the United States and internationally,” Austal Limited Chief Executive Officer Paddy Gregg said.
“Now, with this SEC-West contract, Austal USA is able to offer our proven support services as prime contractor to the Navy on the west coast of the United States, and across both variants of the Littoral Combat Ship, including the steel hulled Freedom-class.
“On top of the recent expansion of our Mobile shipyards’ vessel sustainment capability, which includes additional waterfront property, covered vessel repairs facilities and a 20,000 tonne floating dry dock, this contract positions Austal USA exceptionally well to support the US Navy, Military Sealift Command and US Coast Guard fleets.”
In 2020, Austal USA completed post-delivery maintenance work on both the USS Cincinnati (LCS 20) and the USS Kansas City (LCS 22) in Mobile, mitigating the maintenance backlog in San Diego.