It is a subsidiary of the Australian shipbuilder Austal, operating under a Special Security Arrangement which allows it to work independently and separately on some of the most sensitive United States defense programs despite its foreign ownership.

The National Geographic Channel series MegaStructures featured an episode in September 2007 that detailed the construction, launch, and sea trials of the Alakai, the first catamaran Hawaii Superferry.

[8] Austal USA is currently constructing the Independence class of littoral combat ships for the United States Navy, based on a 127 m (417 ft) advanced trimaran seaframe.

[10] In November 2008, Austal USA won a United States Navy contract to build ten Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport ships.

One of them, the Trenton (JHSV 5) completed acceptance trials in March 2015 and was delivered in April 2015 to the Navy's Military Sealift Command.

[15] On June 30, 2022, the United States Coast Guard awarded Austal USA a contract to build up to 11 Offshore Patrol Cutters under Phase 2 of the program, with a potential total combined price of $3.3 billion if all 11 ships are ordered.

[21] In 2023 senior Austal executives were charged with orchestrating an accounting fraud scheme for the Littoral Combat Ship program.