Shipbuilder Austal USA has been awarded a sustainment execution contract (SEC) for repair, maintenance and modernization of all littoral combat ships (LCS) homeported in San Diego for the United States Navy .
The award includes all Austal-built Independence-variant LCS as well as the west-coast-based Freedom-variant LCS.
Under the contract, the company expects to further expand its current San Diego service center while offering a greater range and depth of support available to the U.S. Navy. Austal USA is also expanding its Singapore service center to effectively support the Navy’s increased presence throughout the Pacific region.
“We are particularly focused on expanding our capability in the Pacific region to meet the growing demand from our Navy, Coast Guard, and Military Sealift Command customers,” Austal USA interim president Rusty Murdaugh said.
The Independence-variant LCS program has recorded a number of successful deployments with more ships scheduled to deploy in the near future.
In April 2021, Austal launched US Navy’s newest LCS, USS Canberra (LCS 30).