Army orders new watercraft

Two Queensland businesses have been contracted to build seven new watercraft to strengthen the Australian Army’s amphibious capability.

FILE PHOTO: Australian Army trade trainees from the RAAF School of Technical Training compete in the ‘World Championship Gumi Race’ in Wagga Wagga, NSW, 2015. Photo by WO2 Trevor Thompson.
Sorry but not sorry for the gag photo, but CONTACT has no idea what the new boat will look like, nor what platform it is replacing (if any)(and the press release was help in this). Happy to be educated, please.

The vessels, which will be built in Cairns, will assist Army amphibious operations and support systems.

Tropical Reef Shipyards and BME NQ will manufacture the 7.5 metre vessels, and provide spares and trailers, as well as operator and maintainer training.

The watercraft will be based on a Chris Tucker Marine Design (a Melbourne-based naval architect company) product.

Project cost is said to be $4.05 million

Acting Minister for Defence Marise Payne said the watercraft would replace Army’s water safety and inshore hydrographic capability.

“The vessels will provide dedicated and agile watercraft for survey, safety, planning and command and control,” Minister Payne said.

“These important watercraft will enable the Army to safely conduct a range of amphibious training activities and operations, which is a critical capability for the ADF.”

Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price said building the Australian-designed boats in Cairns was a win for sovereign industry.

“Tropical Reef Shipyard is a key defence-industry partner used extensively by the Royal Australian Navy for maintenance and modification services on our Leeuwin-class hydrographic ships and Paluma-class survey motor boats,” Minister Price said.

Member for Leichhardt, Warren Entsch said this contract provided an excellent growth opportunity for the Cairns-based businesses.

“BME NQ currently employ 17 staff and will now bring on an additional six employees, including an apprentice, to work on these watercraft,” he said.

 

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