Austal’s capabilities include the development of both defence and commercial vessel platforms.

Defence vessels designed and built by Austal include revolutionary, multi-mission surface warfare combatants, such as the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) for the United States Navy, military high speed support vessels for transport and humanitarian relief, such as the Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) for the United States Navy and the High Speed Support Vessel (HSSV) for the Royal Navy of Oman.

Austal also designs, constructs, integrates and maintains an extensive range of patrol boats for government law enforcement and border protection agencies globally; including the Cape Class Patrol Boat for the Australian Border Force and Royal Australian Navy.

Austal’s defence vessels have been developed by experienced naval architects, designers and engineers utilising the very latest in naval architecture systems - and constructed in industry leading shipbuilding facilities in Mobile, Alabama USA and Henderson, Western Australia.

Austal’s capabilities and strong reputation for quality defence shipbuilding grew from early success in the development of the high speed theatre support vessel, WestPac Express which over 16 years of service achieve 99.8% availability.

Austal’s innovative, market leading mono-hull, catamaran and trimaran designs, expertise in the construction of high performance aluminium vessels, and ability to customize proven commercial platforms to meet market requirements continue to be sought after by the world’s leading maritime public transport operators. The company's commercial vessel portfolio includes passenger ferries, vehicle passenger ferries, offshore crew transfer vessels and wind farm vessels - ranging in size from 24 metres to 127 metres LOA.

Austal’s commercial shipbuilding operations are located at Henderson, Western Australia and Balamban, Cebu in the Philippines.