Austal USA awarded $867 million for three hospital ships

Austal USA will construct three EMS for the US Navy (USN) below an US$867.6 million remaining design and building contract. The ships will likely be constructed on the firm’s aluminium manufacturing line following completion of the final Expeditionary Quick Transport (EPF 16).

The EMS, an EPF variant, has been designed to offer a devoted medical ship optimised to offer affected person holding, stabilisation, evacuation and transport in help of distributed maritime operations.

The EMS design will characteristic a shallow draft to allow better attain and permit for direct entry to austere ports. The flight deck will accommodate army plane together with the V-22 and H-53K.

The ship designs will likely be aluminium, commercial-based catamarans that don’t characteristic fight programs, with the unique ships of the design inbuilt Tasmania. Austal will construct the entire EPFs to American Bureau of Delivery (ABS) requirements.

Manufacture of two extra ships was permitted within the FY2023 price range at that stage, which was for 2 extra ships at a worth of $645 million, with plans to make use of the EPF as a base for the EMS being within the USN’s planning since not less than 2021.

Carlos Del Toro, secretary of the Navy (SECNAV), stated in Could that it might be the navy’s first medical ship in 35 years.

‘This ship, designed with extra expeditious and direct entry to diagnostic, specialty and hospital care, will permit for elevated capabilities and well being care,’ Del Toro remarked.

The design will present a broad vary of medical capabilities together with triage/vital care, three working rooms, medical laboratory, radiological functionality, blood financial institution, dental, psychological well being, OB/GYN and first care, fast stabilization and follow-on evacuation of a number of casualties, and fight search and rescue together with restoration at sea.

The first mission of the EMS as a high-speed ahead deployed medical ship will present fast responsive sea-based and near-shore hospital stage vital care, humanitarian help, catastrophe reduction, non-combatant evacuation operations and particular operations.