Austal USA is an American shipbuilder and defense contractor headquartered on Blakeley Island in Mobile, Alabama, operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Australia's Austal Limited. Founded in 1999 as a joint venture with Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co., the company became fully independent in 2006 and now holds a $10 billion contract backlog spanning work for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard. It operates under a Special Security Arrangement with the U.S. government.
The company's primary work covers the design, construction, and sustainment of naval surface ships - with 34 vessels delivered to the U.S. Navy to date - as well as modules for Virginia-class and Columbia-class submarines, components for aircraft carriers, and support for Navy unmanned vessel programs. Austal USA also oversees the Navy's Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence through an advanced technology center in Charlottesville, Virginia, and operates a service center in San Diego, California.
Manufacturing operations are centered at the Mobile shipyard, which currently encompasses over one million square feet of indoor space. A $750 million expansion project is underway to add more than 561,000 square feet of covered manufacturing capacity by early 2027. Production is organized around a moving-module production line designed for serial output, aligned with lean manufacturing principles.
The work environment is structured around large-scale defense programs, security compliance requirements, and advanced manufacturing disciplines - including additive manufacturing, autonomous machinery control systems, and naval systems integration. Roles span skilled trades, engineering, program management, and technology functions across multiple facilities.