The United States Navy has exercised options to order an additional two Littoral Combat Ships from Western Australia-based shipbuilder Austal.
The ships are the third and fourth ships in a $3.5 billion, 10-boat contract awarded to Austal in December 2010.
Other works Austal has won with the US Navy include contracts for nine joint high speed vessels, two of which were confirmed last month.
All of the US Navy vessels will be built at Austal's Alabama shipyard in the United States.
Chief executive Andrew Bellamy said the US Navy contracts would provide predictable revenue and workload for the near future.
“The LCS and JHSV programs alone are likely to generate nearly $900 million in revenue per year for the next few years,” Mr Bellamy said.
“With series production on both ship classes now underway, we can focus on achieving higher production efficiency and bringing our Navy customer improved cost and schedule performance.
“The LCS award called for two ships to be contracted by the end of March this year, and each of the next three years. While these options were expected, it is still pleasing to see the contracts executed, particularly in a period when the U.S. government budget is under pressure.”
At 1:00PM, WST, Austal stocks had gained 2.7 per cent, to trade at $1.71.
