AustalUSA, a small, "midtier" shipbuilder in Mobile, Ala., emerged as the winner recently in a three-way competition to build a new high-speed transport for the Army and Navy.

The contract to build up to 10 Joint High Speed Vessels, or JHSVs, is worth $1.6 billion if all the initial options are exercised.

Unofficially, the program could grow to more than twice that — Pentagon planners are said to be revising upward the number of JHSVs they want to buy, perhaps to as many as 25 ships.

For several years, the Pentagon has leased high-speed ferries for operation by the Navy, Marine Corps and Army. All of those ships came from the Australian firms of Austal or Incat, specialists in designing and building aluminum, high-speed commercial and military vessels.

For the JHSV contract, AustalUSA — Austal's U.S. subsidiary — won out over Incat, which was teamed with Louisiana shipbuilder Bollinger, and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, which teamed with Rolls-Royce.

AustalUSA's primary partner on the JHSV is General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, a different division from Bath.

The JHSV award means there will be plenty of work for the Mobile shipyard, which was faced with a slim order book. The yard is building the U.S. Navy Littoral Combat Ship for prime contractor General Dynamics — the Independence (LCS 2) — and is fitting out a second commercial Hawai'i superferry. But the shipbuilder was told to slow work on the ferry due to the worsening economic situation, and no further LCS order has come from the Navy, although the service is expected to order another LCS from both General Dynamics and competitor Lockheed Martin in a few weeks.

AustalUSA's ship design is based on the WestPac Express, a leased ferry operated by the Marine Corps at Okinawa.

The fixed-price incentive contract for the first JHSV is $185 million.

The JHSV program currently envisions building five ships for the Navy and five for the Army. The first ship is to be delivered — to the Army — in November 2011. The Navy is managing the program for the Army.

Initially, there are to be few differences between the Army and Navy ships.

The JHSVs are to be capable of transporting 600 short tons 1,200 nautical miles at an average speed of 35 knots. The ships will be capable of operating in shallow-draft ports and waterways, interfacing with roll-on/roll-off discharge facilities, and on/off-loading a combat-loaded M1A2 Abrams main battle tank.

Other joint requirements include an aviation flight deck to support day and night air-vehicle launch and recovery operations. The ships are to remain operational in Sea State 3 and able to survive Sea State 7. The ships will have airline-style seating for more than 300 embarked forces and fixed berthing for about 100 more.

Austal opened its first shipyard near Fremantle, Australia, in 1988. The company expanded to Mobile in 1999.