A key decision out of the Pentagon promised to keep shipbuilding jobs flowing at Mobile’s Austal USA, as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel endorsed a plan to build an upgraded version of the littoral combat ship. The move offered reassurance to one of Mobile County’s largest employers and the thousands of workers who depend on the program.
Hagel had ordered a top-to-bottom review of the LCS earlier in the year after critics raised questions about the small, fast vessel’s firepower and its ability to survive enemy attack. During that review, the Pentagon froze production at 32 ships while military leaders weighed the program’s future, leaving some uncertainty hanging over the yards that build the vessels.
A more lethal, more survivable ship
The announcement resolved much of that uncertainty. Hagel said the Navy would stick with its planned 52-ship order, with the exact split between the original LCS and a new, more capable “small surface combatant” to be worked out based on the Navy’s future needs. The upgraded design was slated to include an improved air-defense radar, better electronic warfare systems, an over-the-horizon anti-ship missile and other enhancements aimed at making the ship more lethal and more survivable.
Austal, one of two shipyards building the LCS, welcomed the news. In a prepared statement, the company said it was excited to be part of the program and believed the Navy could more fully tap the capabilities of its Independence-variant design while meeting the fleet’s needs for years to come. Company officials said they planned to meet with the military in the following days to learn exactly how the transition would work, though it appeared the new features would need to be folded into the ship’s design at both Austal and a partner shipyard in Wisconsin.
A major Mobile employer
The stakes were especially high along the Mobile River. Since its modest start in 1999, Austal had grown into Mobile County’s largest industrial employer, with a workforce of roughly 4,250 at the time, much of that expansion driven by the LCS contract. A decision to abandon the program in favor of an entirely new ship could have disrupted that industrial base.
U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, a Republican from Montrose who had made protecting the LCS a priority since taking office, praised the decision. He called the ship “the future of the naval fleet” and argued that upgrading the existing variants would preserve the industrial base while avoiding the costs of launching a brand-new program. Byrne, who had pressed Hagel on the issue at a congressional hearing earlier in the year, framed the outcome as validation of a long campaign to shore up support for the vessel.
For the shipbuilders and their families on the Gulf Coast, the practical message was clear: the work was set to continue, and the region’s growing role in the Navy’s fleet appeared secure for the foreseeable future.