US Navy poised to expand JHSV's role in the Asia-Pacific region

[Zarvan]

USNS Millinocket berthed at Singapore's PSA Sembawang Wharves. The ship features a shallow draft catamaran design. Source: IHS/Kelvin Wong
Key Points

• USNS Millinocket is berthed in Singapore following a four-month deployment on the USN's Pacific Partnership 2015 programme and participation in the multinational 'SEACAT' training exercise
• The fast catamaran transport ship will be employed to test out new operating concepts in the Asia-Pacific region

USNS Millinocket (T-EPF 3), one of three US Navy (USN) 2,400-tonne aluminium-hulled catamaran transport ships currently operated by the service's Military Sealift Command, is set to demonstrate a wider range of mission capabilities during its inaugural Western Pacific deployment, according to a senior USN official.

Millinocket is presently docked at Singapore's northern PSA Sembawang Wharves, having completed a four-month tour under the USN-led Pacific Partnership 2015 programme. Pacific Partnership is the USN's annual multilateral humanitarian and disaster relief (HADR) preparedness training mission; the activity involves working with regional partners including Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, and Vietnam.

In early October, Millinocket was also deployed as a USN asset for the annual 'Southeast Asia Co-operation and Training' ('SEACAT') exercise with other regional countries. Here, the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) performed the role of a target ship for the participating navies to conduct boarding missions.

The 103 m-long, 28.5 m-wide ship is the third of 10 JHSVs - now officially re-designated Expeditionary Fast Transfer (EPF) platforms - procured to meet the US armed forces' high-speed intra-theatre transportation requirements.Millinocket was accepted into service in March 2014 and achieved initial operational capability on 26 March 2015.

The ship can be quickly adapted for a wide range of missions using its modular mission bay, which can also embark other equipment and supplies. (IHS/Kelvin Wong)

Rear Admiral Charles Williams, commander of Logistics Group Western Pacific (COMLOG WESTPAC) and Combined Task Force (CTF) 73, said during an interview at Sembawang Wharves that the EPF platform brings a new dimension to USN theatre security co-operation activities in the region.

"We gained the EPF here earlier this year when [it] came out for our Pacific Partnership, which is not an exercise but an operation that we do annually, and for the first time we included the ship as part of it," said Rear Adm Williams.

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US Navy poised to expand JHSV's role in the Asia-Pacific region - IHS Jane's 360