Austal will deliver an autonomous expeditionary fast transport ship to the Navy later this year --the service's largest, operational autonomous ship to date. The company is upgrading the propulsion and mechanical systems of Apalachicola (EPF-13) to operate without a crew, according to Larry Ryder, Austal's vice president of business development and external affairs. Within the next two months, the ship will undergo an initial set of trials to test its autonomous capabilities, Ryder told Inside Defense during an interview...
