moving 70 70-ton abrams tanks across the ocean at 35 knots transporting 600 tons of cargo 1 200
nautical miles and delivering special operations forces from a sea-basing tactical vantage point
are all missions now being performed by the navy's growing fleet of expeditionary fast transport or
epf vessels while officially termed non-combatant ships epf ships are not themselves armed with
weapons but instead built for fast humanitarian transport disaster relief and other high-speed
missions however the ships are intended to support major combat operations as well as they can roll
on or roll off armored vehicles large numbers of armed soldiers or marines and if needed a group of
drones the navy has now awarded epf builder austal usa a more than 230 million dollar deal to build a
new epf-15 the navy has already received its 12th epf from austal usa and epf 13 is already underway
epf-12 called usns newport will be owned and operated by military seal of command
high-speed maneuver coupled with heavy equipment transport technology introduces some interesting
tactical advantages to maritime warfare for example operating with a range of 1200 miles can
enable crucial transport without having to operate large deep draft big deck ships in high risk areas
the speed of the vessels also aligned with the navy's distributed maritime operations concept
a strategy intended to maximize warfare reach through the integrated use of drone boats
advanced networking long range weapons and dispersed or disaggregated attack
certainly a less condensed force is a force less vulnerable to concentrated enemy fire the epf can
also rely upon advanced speed and maneuverability to support amphibious attacks as well by offering
certain kinds of sea basing oriented fast attack options and bringing follow-on support forces
vehicles and supplies once a beachhead has been secured special operations forces often need to
move quickly in smaller groups yet they also meet supplies weapons equipment and even platforms
such as fast-moving tactical vehicles given this there are mission objectives which small groups
of special operations forces may benefit greatly from an epf for fast mission attacks they are not
able to accomplish with 11 mere rigid inflatable boats which naturally cannot transport equipment
an osprey launched from an amphibious ship or offshore sea base
may wish to conduct mounted vertical maneuver operations wherein marines dropping behind enemy
lines to gather intelligence support friendly troops of a launch targeted covert attacks
imagine if an osprey tiltrotor could take off from the deck of an efp
it seems that might bring a new dimension to amphibious attack
missions of this kind would be massively fortified by an ability for a fast
transport vehicle such as an epf to lend after landing support
existing navy ship to shore connectors can transport abrams tanks yet one at a time having
epf makes things faster enabling several several fully combat loaded abrams tanks to head to war
the epf launches mh-60s helicopters drones and can land ch-53s perhaps a future massive amphibious
assault would use abram's tank carrying epf 155 towed artillery thousands of soldiers
new optionally manned fighting vehicle infantry carriers and ground attack robots such an attack
would happen in coordination with overhead f-35 and f-22 air support suppressive fire from land
attack navy surface ships and scores of amphibious assault vehicles traveling from ship to shore
you