FORD ISLAND — An aluminum-hulled catamaran that can quickly deliver troops and battle-ready equipment close to shore will be tested by the Army in Hawai'i over the next several months, and could be based here next year.

The Spearhead TSV-1X, one of two high-speed vessels built in Australia and leased by the Army, will be loaded with Schofield Barracks soldiers and vehicles for training runs to the Big Island and Pohakuloa Training Area. In the longer term the vessels could be used to transport Army Stryker vehicles.

The testing is part of an Army objective to acquire 12 of the high-speed vessels service-wide, with the first expected in fiscal 2010.

The 319-foot Spearhead, which has operated out of Kuwait and Djibouti, still retains reminders of its past as a high-speed ferry between Australia and Tasmania, including royal blue carpeting flecked with red and yellow, and airplane-like seats that stretch 24 across in a lounge area.

The Spearhead can carry 25 of the Army's 20-ton Stryker vehicles and a company of soldiers. A trip to the Middle East takes 19 days with the big catamaran, which can make speeds of about 40 knots.

Col. John Kelly, chief of staff for U.S. Army Pacific at Fort Shafter, said yesterday during a tour of the ship that one of the many advantages of the Spearhead is communications that allow for battle planning and updates while under way.

"The idea is when you get off the boat, you don't have any down time, you can go right into an operation," Kelly said. "You used to get on a C-17 (jet transport), eight hours later you'd get off, and you're eight hours behind the tactical picture. Now, you don't have to worry about that. En route (on the Spearhead), you are doing all the same planning you would do at your home headquarters."

The Spearhead has a crew of 32 and is based at Fort Eustis, Va.

A lease from Inact Ltd. in Australia is up in December, and the Army hopes to extend the deal.

"I can't say with 100 percent assurance that we're going to get it, but the last word we got from the Department of the Army ... was it looked very promising," said Lt. Col. Robert J. Lehman, transportation, energy and troop support officer for U.S. Army Pacific.

"We want to keep an Army boat in the water, and we want to keep it here, preferably, and continue to develop the concept of operations until we've fielded the first vessels in probably 2010, 2011," Lehman added.

The Spearhead is scheduled for shipyard maintenance from November to February in Australia. The hope is to have the vessel return to Hawai'i in the new year.

Kelly said in fiscal 2006 the plan is to use the Spearhead for multiple operations in the Pacific involving Hawai'i, Alaska and Japan, and for exercises including Cobra Gold in Thailand and Balikatan in the Philippines.

The ship is similar to two giant catamarans Hawai'i SuperFerry Inc. wants to operate between the islands that can carry 900 passengers and 250 vehicles.

The vessel, with a shallow draft of 11 to 15 feet, was part of a special operations training mission launching Australian troops ashore through mangroves in that country as part of the exercise Talisman Saber.