Sea Power - June 2016

of the military. Where airlift usually means relatively small loads, and sealift means relatively slow speeds, the EPF sits somewhere in the middle, with meaningful capacity and reduced transit times.

EPF can augment combat logistical forces by rapidly moving personnel, equipment and supplies over large distances, wherever they are needed. Like LCS, EPF also can carry containerized modules that can plug into its “total ship computing environment” backbone.

Both LCS and EPF are meant to be operated forward, ready to respond to operational tasking or contingencies. EPF is not a combatant, but it can be a significant enabler to combat forces.

EPF is built by Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., alongside the company’s production line where its trimaran-hulled Independence variant of the LCS is constructed. While many visitors are somewhat familiar with the LCS, Austal USA Chief Executive Officer Craig Perciavalle said people are surprised when they see the EPF.

“EPF is a high-speed, aluminum, multi-hulled vessel with a lot of design margin to be able to handle varying levels of payload, and a very large reconfigurable volume,” Perciavalle said. “People don’t really understand just how big and voluminous the ship really is.

“We’re very pleased with how the program has matured. The build process has really improved significantly since the first ship,” Perciavalle said.

The EPF was designed for intra-theater lift, but the Navy has given the ships other missions.

“As the fleet has received the ships and used them, they’ve really seen just how much utilization they do have and how many different types of things they can use with them,” he said.

Similarities & Synergies

There are similarities and synergies between LCS and EPF.

LCS comes in two distinctly different variants. The 379-foot, 3,000- ton USS Freedom (LCS 1) is a monohull built by a team led by Lockheed Martin at Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wis. Freedom has a steel hull and aluminum superstructure.

The all-aluminum 418-foot, 3,000 ton USS Independence (LCS 2) is a trimaran, and is built by Austal. The lead ships — LCS 1 and LCS 2

— were commissioned in 2008 and 2010, respectively. Both LCS variants can achieve speeds in excess of Both variants operate the MH-60R helicopter and the MQ-8B (and soon the larger C model) Fire Scout vertical takeoff unmanned aerial vehicle.

The 337-foot, 1,500-ton, all-aluminum EPF entered service in 2013. The lead ship of the class, USNS Spearhead, and its sister ships will be operated by Military Sealift Command with civilian mariner crews and can carry the equipment, vehicles and troops for a company-sized Army or Marine Corps combat unit.

EPF has a top speed of 43 knots to operate alongside LCS, and is capable of transporting 600 tons of cargo 1,200 nautical miles at 35 knots at sea state 3.

With a draft of 12 feet, 7 inches, a 20,000-square- foot mission bay — and equipped with a helicopter deck, a side-loading ramp and 10-ton telescoping boom crane — EPF can load and unload in many austere ports not accessible to larger ships. EPF also can deliver vertical replenishments to an underway LCS at sea state 1.

While at sea, EPF can move cargo between the flight deck and the mission deck, allowing priority cargo to be rapidly loaded and unloaded. There is no hangar, but EPF is equipped with a Naval Air Systems Command level 1, class 2, certified flight deck for one helicopter and a helicopter control station.

The EPF open architecture total ship computing environment (TSCE) is provided by General Dynamics Mission Systems and is similar to the General Dynamics TSCE used on the Independence-class LCS.

15 WWW.SEAPOWERMAGAZINE.ORG SEAPOWER / JUNE 2016 The littoral combat ship USS Coronado and the Military Sealift Command expeditionary fast transport USNS Millinocket transit in formation off the coast of Southern California during the Rim of the Pacific Exercise 2014. As more ships of both types join the fleet, there are greater opportunities to take advantage of what they can do together.