Australian Army Discussions and Updates

Pusser01

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
Surely we see the prototype in action soon?
LCM production was to start this year.
I have a feeling that we won't see it anytime soon. I think that 2 hull sections were dragged out of the Birdon shed in Henderson a few months ago & are now languishing in the open, possibly going to be scrapped. Apologies for the dodgy photo. Cheers
 

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Stampede

Well-Known Member
I have a feeling that we won't see it anytime soon. I think that 2 hull sections were dragged out of the Birdon shed in Henderson a few months ago & are now languishing in the open, possibly going to be scrapped. Apologies for the dodgy photo. Cheers
Interesting

Looks like some substantial work in construction so far.

This is quite a large project so conceding some time to get it right is not a bad thing.

Maybe while they work stuff out they could add another 10 m to its length to increase its cargo capacity and options

Cheers S
 

Reptilia

Well-Known Member
I have a feeling that we won't see it anytime soon. I think that 2 hull sections were dragged out of the Birdon shed in Henderson a few months ago & are now languishing in the open, possibly going to be scrapped. Apologies for the dodgy photo. Cheers
Dodgy…
I assumed the prototype would be in its final stages after seeing these pics on the YouTube channel over a year ago.
 

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Pusser01

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
Dodgy…
I assumed the prototype would be in its final stages after seeing these pics on the YouTube channel over a year ago.
One would have thought so, they were dragged out of the Echo shed maybe 3 months ago. About 2 months ago the 2 hull sections were moved by road a few blocks to up behind the Birdon shed were they've sat ever since. They can be seen from Cockburn Road aswell.
 

Reptilia

Well-Known Member
One would have thought so, they were dragged out of the Echo shed maybe 3 months ago. About 2 months ago the 2 hull sections were moved by road a few blocks to up behind the Birdon shed were they've sat ever since. They can be seen from Cockburn Road aswell.
So Birdon didn’t even have to produce a working prototype, just a couple of steel hull units to win the contract?
 

Pusser01

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
So Birdon didn’t even have to produce a working prototype, just a couple of steel hull units to win the contract?
I believe that they were originally doing it off their own back. Maybe once they won the contract, they decided not to continue with the build, especially after their original build partner Echo, was overlooked when the COA decreed that Austal was to be the builder.
 

spoz

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
Ship projects, even quite small ones like these (not so small) LCMs, don’t usually feature pre contract prototypes; you buy against the design and the proposed productionisation process.
 
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