Alcoa provides aluminum amah tips to austal for littoral combat ship USS jackson (LCS 6)

Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) announced today that it has delivered a set of two “ready for installation” aluminum Amah tips to Austal USA for use on the future Littoral Combat Ship USS Jackson (LCS 6). An Amah tip is the leading edge of the all-aluminum, trimaran-type vessel’s outrigger, or amah, and is more than seven feet across and weighs 850 pounds. The LCS 6 is currently being built for the U.S. Navy at Austal’s Mobile, Alabama shipyard.

The one-piece design resulted from collaboration between Austal and Alcoa Technical Center (ATC), near Pittsburgh. ATC provided the design and development, Alcoa Global Rolled Products’ mill in Davenport, Iowa, supplied the substrate and Alcoa Transportation Products (ATP) in Farmington Hills, Michigan, oversaw the final milling.

"Alcoa was able to provide Austal with a more affordable and less complex manufacturing solution, a streamlined purchasing process and ultimately improved weight performance for the ship," said Eric Roegner, president of Alcoa Forgings and Extrusions and Alcoa Defense.

Alcoa worked closely with the American Bureau of Shipbuilding (ABS) to ensure that both the thick plate produced at Davenport and the machining process completed by ATP met the rigorous and exacting standards of the ABS, resulting in full certification for use on the LCS.

A second set of similar Amah tips will be delivered to Austal for the future Littoral Combat Ship USS Montgomery (LCS 8) in May 2012.

“Work on the Amah tip underscores the strong relationship that has developed between Austal USA and Alcoa,” Roegner continued. “As we have done with Mission Bay and Flight Deck Tie Downs and now the Amah tips, we will continue to develop other lightweight solutions for Austal that will keep the Littoral Combat Ship affordable but most importantly provide the U.S. Navy with a very capable ship.

Source: Alcoa