ST Engineering North America's VT Halter Marine has been awarded a contract for industrial studies for the US Navy's auxiliary general ocean surveillance ship (T-AGOS(X)) programme.
The navy awarded the US$981,000 contract for the T-AGOS(X) class, which will ultimately replace the existing Victorious-class and Impeccable-class small waterplane area twin hull (SWATH) ships that are nearing the ends of their service lives.
The contract is for a 12-month study to perform trade-off studies and analyses of the navy design. Halter Marine has teamed with Gibbs and Cox as the ship designer.
The T-AGOS(X) class will be designed for a 30-year service life and will be equipped with a towed array sensor system.
The navy is expected to award the design detail and construction contract for the new vessels in 2022 with an anticipated delivery of the first unit in 2025.
It is expected that the design and construction contract will include one vessel and options for six others.
