Surveillance ships to be built for the US Navy by Austal USA
NewsMay 22, 2023
MOBILE, Alabama. Austal USA has won a fixed-price incentive contract to design and potentially construct up to seven T-AGOS 25 class Auxiliary General Ocean Surveillance Ships for the U.S. Navy, the company announced in a statement. The initial contract value is $113.9 million, but if all options are exercised, the overall contract could be worth up to $3.2 billion.
Operated by U.S. Military Sealift Command (MSC), the T-AGOS ships will contribute to the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) missions in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets. They will provide a platform for passive and active anti-submarine acoustic surveillance, equipped with Surveillance Towed-Array Sensor System (SURTASS) equipment for gathering underwater acoustical data, the company says.
The 110-meter, steel SWATH (Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull) vessels are expected to support the Navy’s Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS), according to the company.
Austal USA will team up with L3Harris Technologies, Noise Control Engineering, TAI Engineering, and Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors to deliver the TAGOS-25 program from its steel shipbuilding facility in Mobile, Alabama. This facility currently handles multiple naval shipbuilding programs and sub-contracted projects, including the Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ships and Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transports, the statement reads.
