Austal and Birdon in MOU on Australian Army landing craft project

Austal Limited CEO Paddy Gregg and Birdon CEO Jamie Bruce at Austal USA’s headquarters in Mobile, Alabama [Photo: Austal]

Two Australian shipbuilders with significant U.S. presences chose Mobile, Ala., to announce today that they are teaming up for an Australian Army landing craft project. The two companies, Austal Ships Pty Limited (Austal) and Birdon Pty Limited (Birdon) reported that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly develop defense shipbuilding capability in Western Australia to deliver the Australian Department of Defence Landing Craft-Medium (“LC-M”) Project.

The formation of the MoU started in late November when Australia’s Minister for Defence Industry, Pat Conroy, announced a Heads of Agreement (“HoA”) to establish a Strategic Shipbuilding Agreement between Austal and the Commonwealth, and named Austal as the preferred vessel constructor. Birdon was selected by the Commonwealth as the preferred designer for the LC-M Australian Army landing craft project,

Under the MoU, Austal and Birdon have agreed to work with each other to jointly develop a costed proposal for the LC-M Project, along with exploring a range of other potential defense shipbuilding opportunities.

“Austal has a very good track record of working effectively with third-party vessel designers and we look forward to working with Birdon to develop the MoU into a more substantive partnership so that we can deliver a capable and cost-effective LC-M program for the Army,” said Austal CEO Paddy Gregg.

Birdon CEO Jamie Bruce said the MoU was a signal of the intent of both companies to form a collaborative relationship for the design and build of LC-Ms.

“We are pleased that our LC-M design, which exceeds requirements and will deliver beyond any other vessel currently in-service or advertised globally, was the design preferred by the Commonwealth. We look forward to teaming with Austal to bring the design to life,” Bruce said.

Neither party mentioned why they happened to be in Mobile for the signing,