Austal USA is an American shipbuilder and defense contractor headquartered on Blakeley Island in Mobile, Alabama. Established in 1999 as a 70:30 joint venture between Australia's Austal Limited and Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co, it became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Austal Limited in September 2006. The company designs, constructs, repairs, and sustains advanced vessels for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard, and operates under a Special Security Arrangement with the U.S. government.
Austal USA's core work spans surface ships, submarine modules, and aircraft carrier components, with 34 ships delivered to the U.S. Navy to date. The company is a key member of the Navy's submarine industrial base, building modules for both Virginia-class and Columbia-class submarines. It also supports Navy unmanned vessel programs through an advanced autonomous machinery control system. Current contract backlog stands at $10 billion, covering surface ships, submarine modules, and aircraft carrier components. A service center operates in San Diego, California, and an advanced technology center in Charlottesville, Virginia oversees the Navy's Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence.
The main Mobile shipyard encompasses over one million square feet of indoor manufacturing space and operates a moving module production line suited to serial production. Austal USA applies lean manufacturing principles across its operations. A $750 million expansion project is underway to add more than 561,000 square feet of additional covered manufacturing space by early 2027.
Technical domains span shipbuilding, additive manufacturing, autonomous systems, lean and serial manufacturing methods, submarine module construction, and aircraft carrier component fabrication. The company's workforce operates across three U.S. locations: Mobile (headquarters and primary shipyard), San Diego (service center), and Charlottesville (advanced technology center).