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Joint High Speed Vessel: Great Potential, But Questions Remain March 2011 By Grace V. Jean The Defense Department this decade will build a fleet of new high-speed aluminum ships specifically designed to shuttle hundreds of troops and tons of cargo around a theater of operations. These shallow-draft logistics ships, analysts say, will become valuable vehicles for executing “soft power” missions — responding to natural disasters, providing humanitarian assistance, conducting port visits and training partner military forces, among others. The Defense Department currently accomplishes this role using traditional warships such as the Navy’s “big deck” amphibious vessels. Analysts say the joint...

The Pentagon says it plans to buy 10 Joint High Speed Vessels that may have marines and special-operations SEALS going to combat onboard aluminum, twin-hulled catamaran offshoots of successful civilian ferries. The Pentagon says the plan includes use of the JHSV by the Navy and Army in a wider variety of military missions being considered. Austal, the program's prime contractor, began work on the first high-speed vessel last month, and, was recently awarded a $204.2 million contract toward construction of two more. In all, the project's construction of 10 JHSVs is estimated at $1.6 billion, Pentagon officials said. The 338-foot-long...

The U.S. Department of Defense has ordered two more Joint High Speed Vessels (JHSV) transports. Two years, the Department of Defense set up a deal where a fleet of new JHSVs would be built, for use by all the services (mainly the army and navy.) At the time, one JHSV was ordered. These 103 meter (320 feet) long, $160 million ships are refined versions of the earlier HSV 2 ship. The army already has leased two of these HSV 2s, and the navy another. The manufacturing of the JHSVs is being done by an Australian firm, in the U.S. All...