Mobile, AL – Officials say the economic impact of Austal USA's $5 billion contract to build littoral combat ships in Mobile will extend well beyond the 1,800 jobs created at the company.
Congress last week gave the Navy approval to buy 10 littoral combat ships each from Austal and a Lockheed Martin-led team that will construct its vessels in Wisconsin.
Austal is already in the midst of a 10-vessel contract to build transport military ships. Company officials have said they will need to expand their operations to accommodate the extra work.
The company would construct a new assembly bay and double the size of the Module Manufacturing Facility at the Mobile River yard.
Loren Thompson, a military analyst with the Arlington, Va.-based Lexington Institute, says the contract could bring thousands of jobs to Mobile.
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