Trials Complete

The Navy's fourth Joint High Speed Vessel, the Fall River (JHSV-4), has finished builder's trials, according to a service statement.

Austal USA, the ship's builder, demonstrated the performance of Fall River's propulsion plant, communications, navigation and ride control systems, according to the Navy.

"The ship's keel was laid just a little over a year ago and she was launched earlier this year," Navy Capt. Henry Stevens, strategic and theater sealift program manager, said in the July 7 statement, adding: "We expect to have her fully operational by the end of the years. The momentum of this program and the quality of these ships is a true testament to the hard work of the shipbuilder and the Navy."

The next step for JHSV-4 is to undergo acceptance trials. The Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey will conduct those tests, according to the statement.

Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Kenneth Glueck, deputy commandant for combat development and integration, said last month that the service's new connector strategy with its focus on high-water speed capability will allow Marines to sidestep the full force of an enemy, instead penetrating its "seam."

"There are new technologies out there, such as the Joint High Speed Vessel, that will have an increased speed capability that you can probably put 20-plus vehicles on," Glueck said in June at an event in Washington, adding that Marines are "able to move it in under the cover of darkness, once again not into the teeth of the enemy -- into the seam of the enemy at night." As Inside the Navy reported last month:

That high-speed capability is essential to the connector strategy because the sea base is getting pushed further and further out due to new threats, Glueck emphasized.

The Marine Corps is currently partnering with the Office of Naval Research to pursue near- and long-term connectors to move personnel and fighting equipment from amphibious warships to shore -- a key element of the Marine Corps' new Expeditionary Force 21 capstone concept.

ONR on June 6 issued a request for information (RFI) to solicit new approaches that could be immediately implemented as well as proposals for "connectors-after-next" capabilities. Proposals are due by Aug. 29.

"The future connector solution will be a family of systems -- air and surface -- rather than a singular craft," according to a statement emailed to Inside the Navy from ONR and Marine Corps combat development and integration command officials. "The intent of the RFI was to open the aperture as wide as possible to allow the submission of any type of concepts or ideas. Neither the Navy nor the Marine Corps have any preconceived notions in terms of a specific 'connector after next.'"

ITN reported in May that the Office of Naval Research had successfully demonstrated a new lightweight ramp intended for use on the JHSV that could potentially expand the mission sets of the vessel to include ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore transport:

The new ramp would improve on the vessel's existing ramp by enabling the loading and unloading of personnel and combat vehicles between a JHSV and another ship in rougher maritime conditions than are currently possible, according to a Navy statement released May 9. The ramp can also be used to connect JHSV to a pier or a mobile landing platform.

The May 1 demonstration included a tank and Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck crossing in simulated high-wave conditions.

The current JHSV ramp is only good for "sea state one" -- calm sea conditions, James Strock, director of the Marine Corps' seabasing integration division, told ITN in an April 23 interview at Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA. The new prototype ramp that ONR is testing is good for "sea state three -- that's real heavy and beefy," he added.