Navy taps Saronic for LCU 1700 at Port Alpha

The US Navy awarded Saronic a firm-fixed-price Prototype Other Transaction to build Landing Craft Utility 1700 hulls as the first program at Port Alpha, the company's planned Brownsville, Texas shipyard. The award is part of $280.5 million in OTAs covering seven prototype craft across Saronic, Conrad Shipyard, and Master Boat Builders, with each yard building two or three boats to validate a production-ready technical data package. CEO Dino Mavrookas said Port Alpha will produce the crewed LCUs alongside autonomous surface vessels; Saronic expects production to start in 2028 and first deliveries in 2029.