Two next-generation air cushion vehicles are to be built by Textron Systems Marine & Land Systems under an exercised contract option from the U.S. Navy.

The landing craft -- units 102 and 103 -- will be built at the company's facility in New Orleans and delivered in late 2019 under the Navy's Ship-to-Shore program and will be used to transport weapons, equipment, cargo and personnel of the assault elements of U.S. Marines from larger ships to the shore and also for the delivery of equipment and supplies in humanitarian aid missions.

The new craft are designed for a 30-year service life and feature more corrosion-resistant aluminum in the hull than current LCAC, composites in the propeller shroud assembly and shafting. An advanced skirt, a pilot/co-pilot arrangement, a cargo deck to accommodate a 74 short ton payload and more powerful Rolls-Royce engines are also included.

"The multi-million dollar technology investments we've made for the SSC program at our 600,000 square-foot shipyard are set to deliver important dividends to our Navy customer in terms of manufacturing efficiencies, productivity and quality," said Tom Walmsley, senior vice president and general manager, Marine & Land Systems. "The new craft our team is fabricating and assembling will offer improved performance over legacy LCAC along with enhancements that will increase availability and reduce ownership costs for the Navy."

The contract option for the new craft is worth $84,087,095.

Textron Systems was given a $213 million contract in 2012 for the design and construction of the SSC Test and Training craft (LCAC 100), which is scheduled to be delivered in 2017. That awarded included options for as many as eight production craft.