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The U.S. Navy’s newest generation of drone ships will be built at several Louisiana shipyards after the Pentagon announced plans to buy 30 crewless boats at a total cost of $1.2 billion from a trio of defense contractors.

In late September, the Navy placed orders with Austin-based Saronic Technologies, Virginia-based Huntington Ingalls Industries and Houma-based Edison Chouest. Each will build 10 autonomous boats in Louisiana at an average cost of $40 million each, with the first deliveries due by October 2027.

The purchase is the latest bright spot for Louisiana’s shipbuilding industry, where the number of jobs has fallen by 70% since its peak in the late 1990s. But with the Trump administration ramping up maritime military investment, the sector is poised for growth.

“If you look at what was already here, plus the relationships we have and the skills we have, it makes sense that it's coming together so big,” Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois said.

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Owner and President Brannan Breaux said he’s looking to add 20 to 30 new workers to his staff of 75 — and even more if he embarks on a contemplated expansion of his 6-acre shipyard.

Though it will be his company’s first uncrewed vessel, Breaux said its 43 years of experience building custom aluminum hull boats for the offshore drilling industry has been good preparation for producing the Romulus.

“It's basically a glorified (fast supply vessel) with a bunch of electronics on it that makes it an autonomous vessel,” Breaux said. “So we basically build an FSV that would typically go work in the Gulf for the oil field, but strip down a lot of things that're unneeded because it's unmanned.”

The 10-ship orders could be the first of more in the future. That's because the Navy used an “other transaction” agreement that allows for follow-up orders without another round of bidding instead of going through the standard procurement process.

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Saronic, which was valued at $9.25 billion in its latest funding round, aims to have the capacity to produce up to 20 Marauders a year at its Franklin shipyard. Earlier this year, it opened an office in New Orleans' Central Business District for the engineers, architects and other specialists working on the ships. The company now employs more than 400 people in Louisiana, and expects to hire more as demand grows.

Last month, the company broke ground on a $3.2 billion shipyard in Brownsville, Texas, that will more than double the nation’s current commercial shipbuilding capacity. Louisiana had been a finalist in the company's site selection.

The next phase of medium drone boat procurement has already begun. The Navy will begin reviewing new proposals next month and plans to keep taking them for five years.