The maritime defence technology company Saronic has started work on Port Alpha, a major new shipyard located in Brownsville, Texas, which is intended to manufacture both autonomous and crewed vessels on a large scale. The project involves more than $3 billion in private investment.
The shipyard, which is situated at the Port of Brownsville, will at first involve around 835 acres, with the possibility of expanding the site to almost 4,400 acres. Saronic expects the project to provide up to 10,000 direct jobs, these being in the fields of welding, machining, robotics, software engineering and naval architecture.
Port Alpha is to become a modern shipbuilding facility which will be able to build both autonomous and traditionally crewed vessels, with operations scheduled to start in 2028 and the first facility being designed for an annual shipbuilding capacity of about 150,000 gross tons.
The shipyard is also expected to build Landing Craft Utility vessels for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The company Saronic has recently been chosen as one of the three firms to take part in the Navy’s LCU programme, which has a value of about $280 million, with deliveries of the vessels expected to start in late 2028.
Saronic is already producing autonomous surface vessels at its shipyard in Franklin, Louisiana, such as its Corsair and Marauder platforms, and the Navy has given Saronic a contract for 10 Marauder medium unmanned surface vessels as part of the MUSV Marketplace programme.
The Saronic expansion greatly increases the size of its manufacturing operations and involves a major new investment in advanced manufacturing and maritime technology in South Texas.
Source: Breaking Defense
Author: Diana Stancy
Original Link: https://breakingdefense.com/2026/09/saronic-breaks-ground-on-new-port-alpha-shipyard-in-texas/