Shipbuilding company Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) has been awarded a US$450 million contract to expand production capacity at its shipyard in Alabama, to support the delivery of two crucial submarine types for the US Navy Submarine Industrial Base. Subsidiary Austal USA received the contract from General Dynamics Electric Boat, allowing it to augment the existing infrastructure of the Mobile shipyard- in particular through the construction of a new module fabrication and outfitting facility – with this enabling production of one Colombia-class and two Virginia-class submarines per year. Construction w…