WASHINGTON — The US Navy intends to find a second shipbuilder to join Austal USA in producing Landing Craft Utility vessels, a year after the termination of the program’s original prime contractor Swiftships.
Landing Craft Utility vessels, or LCUs, provide the service with a heavy lift capability to transport Marines, weapons, equipment and cargo from ship to shore. While the LCUs serve a similar purpose to the service’s Ship-to-Shore Connectors, the LCUs trade speed for the capability to carry larger and heavier cargo. The 1700 series will replace the Vietnam-era LCUs in the service’s inventory now, which have far exceeded their original 25-year service lives.
The Navy’s budget justification documents, as well as documents outlining congressional intent for the Pentagon’s portion of reconciliation funds, obtained by Breaking Defense, indicate the Navy plans to spend $295 million to “procure 9 additional LCU craft and develop a second shipyard.” The documents also indicate that lawmakers want to see the service pursue two LCUs per year “at $25M per LCU 1700.”
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Breaking Defense has sought comment from Naval Sea Systems Command about further details concerning how and when that shipbuilder will be selected.
Louisiana-based Swiftships was initially chosen to build LCUs in 2018 and was under contract to deliver at least seven craft. In 2024, the Navy terminated the company’s contract and does not plan to take delivery of any LCUs built by Swiftships, according to this year’s budget documents. Defense News previously reported the service terminated the company’s work for what Swiftships executives said were issues with finalizing the vessel’s design.
Prior to the contract termination, in 2023 the Navy tapped Alabama-based Austal USA to begin building LCUs as a second shipyard and has since put that shipbuilder under contract for five vessels. Austal’s contract contains options for “up to seven additional craft,” according to budget justification documents.
Anytime the Navy considers additional shipbuilders for existing programs, the news is always a boon to industry. The dual shipyard set up, which has been used for numerous Navy programs, offers an increased ship production cadence for the service, and stabilizes industry by spreading the workload to multiple companies.
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Author: Justin Katz
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