Building Army’s fleet of medium landing craft begins

The build of 18 medium landing craft for the Army’s new littoral fleet has been accelerated according to the current government – though the previous government’s announcement of this project initially had the same delivery timeline.

FILE IMAGE: Concept design of Army’s new Landing Craft Medium. Note that the image shows one of these vessels offloading two tanks, whereas the current narrative says the vessel will have a max capacity of 90-tonnes (with tanks weighing about 70 tonnes each).

The first of the medium landing craft vessels, designed by Birdon and to be built by Austal at the Henderson Shipyard in Western Australia, is expected to be delivered in 2026.

The local build of the medium landing craft is in addition to up to eight heavy landing craft which will also be built by Austal at Henderson.

With a range of up to 2000 nautical miles when operating with the Landing Craft Heavy, the Landing Craft Medium will be capable of transporting up to 90 tonnes, equivalent to four High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), or one main battle tank, or one infantry fighting vehicle and two Bushmasters.

These vessels are an essential component of Army’s transformation and optimisation for littoral manoeuvre.

They will support a strategy of denial which includes deploying and sustaining modernised land forces with long-range land and maritime strike capabilities across our region.

The government is investing a total of around $7 billion towards littoral manoeuvre vessels.

Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said building Australia’s new fleet of landing craft was part of the government’s commitment to continuous naval shipbuilding in Western Australia and a future made in Australia.

“This pipeline of work will result in opportunities for the Australian defence industry and support a highly skilled shipbuilding workforce for years to come,” Mr Conroy said.

“These new vessels will enable the ADF to deploy and sustain land forces to beaches, rivers and ports in Australia and across our region and enhance our ability to work with regional military partners.”

 

 

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