Saronic to Build Landing Craft Utility Vessels at Port Alpha Shipyard

Saronic announced that it has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Navy to construct Landing Craft Utility (LCU) vessels, executed as a firm fixed-price agreement under an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) award. This will be the first build at Port Alpha, Saronic’s next-generation shipyard in Brownsville, TX.

LCUs are a Navy logistics vessel, used to move troops, vehicles, and cargo from ships offshore directly onto a beach or unimproved shoreline without the need for a port or pier. The LCU possesses heavy-lift capability with a 170-ton payload capacity, able to carry cargo from amphibious ships across open water, shore-to-shore, and back again, with a range of roughly 1,200 nautical miles. This capability is central to amphibious operations, resupply, and disaster-response missions.

The demand for this type of connector is rising from the Marine Corps and Navy, as the existing, aging fleet is actively being replaced. Saronic will now support the delivery of multiple LCUs to address the Navy’s needs under the current program of record, with the OT structure allowing the Service to move expeditiously to get the company under contract.

The program aligns with Saronic’s broader push to modernize U.S. shipbuilding and expand capacity, pairing a new production facility with a manufacturing approach built for repeatable, software defined ship construction. With a focus on speed to delivery, Saronic expects to begin LCU production at Port Alpha in 2028, with the first deliveries beginning in 2029.

The award builds on Saronic’s existing work with the U.S. Navy, which includes a $400M+ production OT for Corsair, its 24-foot autonomous surface vessel, and its selection for at-sea testing on the Navy’s MUSV Marketplace for Marauder, its 180-foot autonomous ship. Across both programs, Saronic has moved from contract to delivered capability on timelines measured in months rather than years, with more than 400 Corsairs built to date and Marauder in the water less than a year after design began.