MOBILE, Ala. – Austal USA delivered Expeditionary Fast Transport USNS Apalachicola (EPF 13) to the Navy on Feb. 16. It is the second Navy ship named after the coastal Florida city; and both were built in Mobile. EPF 13 is the largest surface ship in the fleet with autonomous capability. EPF 13 went to sea five times allowing Austal USA and its industry partners, L3Harris and General Dynamics Mission Systems, to test and analyze typical ship systems and those resulting from autonomous design and construction contract modifications to establish the ship as an autonomous prototype. “Apalachicola will also be the first EPF with the ability to conduct V-22 flight operations and launch and recover 11- meter Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBs)," said Austal USA President Rusty Murdaugh. Fundamental to the autonomy effort was Austal's automated in-house designed machinery control system (MCS) allowing the ship to be minimally manned by centralizing machinery operations to the bridge. All Spearhead-class EPFs built to date incorporate the MCS design. Combined with investments from academia in uncrewed technology, south Alabama is quickly becoming the epicenter of autonomous naval architecture. (Austal USA 02/16/23) Austal USA delivers USNS Apalachicola (EPF 13) to the Navy | Austal: Corporate
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