BIW breaks with Alabama shipyard
Bath Iron Works has cut ties with Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., allowing each shipbuilder to compete for contracts to build high-speed ships for the Navy.
The Bath shipyard and Austal USA, a subsidiary of Australian-based Austal, teamed up six years ago to build two littoral combat ships for the Navy, competing against a design developed by a team of Lockheed Martin Corp. and a Wisconsin shipyard. Austal will bid as the prime contractor against Lockheed Martin for two littoral combat ships in a contract to be awarded this year that could be worth up to 10 ships and $4.8 billion, according to the Associated Press.
By ending their partnership with Austal, BIW will be able to bid on a second, five-ship contract the Navy plans to award to a different builder in 2012. "This gives Austal a chance to continue to compete for the ongoing construction of these ships and it gives us the opportunity downstream to compete with the rest of the industry for the remaining ships in the program, " Jim DeMartini, a BIW spokesman, told the AP.
The BIW-Austal partnership will stay in place until the team finishes building its second LCS. The Navy hopes to have a total of 55 littoral combat ships in its fleet.
Go to the article from the AP >>
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