Austal

Austal Limited is an Australian-based global ship building company and defence prime contractor that specialises in the design, construction and support of defence and commercial vessels. Austal's product range includes naval vessels, high-speed ferries, and supply or crew transfer vessels for offshore windfarms and oil and gas platforms. Austal has three major ship building facilities. Defence vessels are designed and constructed in Henderson, Western Australia and Mobile, Alabama. Commercial vessels are constructed in Balamban, Philippines. Vessel support is provided through service centres located in Darwin, Cairns and Henderson in Australia; San Diego, California; Balamban, Philippines and Muscat, Oman. Corporate headquarters are co-located at Austal's Australian ship building facility in Henderson. Austal has designed and constructed over 260 vessels for numerous defence forces and commercial fleet operators. Customers include the Australian Border Force, Condor Ferries, Mols Linien of Denmark, Royal Australian Navy, Royal Navy of Oman, and United States Navy. Independence class littoral combat ship In October 2005, Austal / General Dynamics was awarded a contract to build the first unit from its design for a Littoral Combat Ship. The keel of was laid down on 19 January 2006 at Austal USA's Mobile, Alabama shipyard, with the naming ceremony held in October 2008. It is now operating with the fleet at its current location in Norfolk, Virginia. LCS-2 was the first ship built by Austal USA for the US Navy and the Navy's first trimaran Littoral Combat Ship. It is the first naval warship constructed in Mobile, Alabama since World War II. The basis of Austal's seaframe design was the trimaran hull . The second Austal/General Dynamics ship, LCS-4, was cancelled in November 2007. In May 2009, the US Navy renewed the contract with Austal/General Dynamics to build the second LCS, , with delivery scheduled for May 2012. In December 2010 the US Navy announced a new contract with Austal USA after Austal severed ties with General Dynamics Bath Iron Works.