Saronic lands Navy landing craft contract, first build at Brownsville’s Port Alpha

Austin defense tech firm will build manned Navy logistics vessels at its new Cameron County shipyard, with production set to begin in 2028

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 core 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.

“This award reflects the kind of partnership we set out to build with the Navy, where speed, cost discipline, and a modern industrial base reinforce each other,” said Saronic Co-Founder and CEO, Dino Mavrookas. “Port Alpha is designed to produce large autonomous surface vessels alongside currently manned ships, supporting the Navy’s hybrid fleet strategy while adding surge capacity to the broader U.S. maritime industrial base.

Understanding the urgency of the moment, Saronic is helping address the critical backlog facing America’s shipyards with one of Port Alpha’s first builds. We are tackling the quick production of a vital manned vessel the Navy needs today as we ramp to meet the needs of an autonomous maritime future.”

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.