U.S. Navy awards contracts to Lockheed, Austal for 4 more ships

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy has awarded contracts worth nearly $1.4 billion to buy four more Littoral Combat Ships - two from Lockheed Martin Corp LMT.N and two from Australia's Austal , the U.S. Defense Department said on Monday.

Lockheed won a contract valued at $699 million to build two more of its steel monohull-design ships, while Austal won a contract worth $684 million to build two more of its aluminum trimaran design.

The Pentagon announced the contract awards in its daily digest of major weapons contracts.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal. Editing by Andre Grenon)

((Andrea.shalal@thomsonreuters.com)(202-321-7839)(Reuters Messaging: Andrea.shalal.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: NAVY SHIPS/