The Minister for Defence Industry issued a press release on Tuesday, advising delivery of the 18 x Birdon designed / Austal built Landing Craft Medium will be brought forward to commence from 2026.
Delivery of the 8 x Landing Craft Heavy will also be accelerated to commence from 2029.
Delivery of the 8 x Landing Craft Heavy will also be accelerated to commence from 2029.
The time frame and commitment to vessel numbers is staggering.
Certainly something happening in this amphibious space .
Mention of HIMARS was interesting.
So the LCM will clearly be able to carry four bushmaster sized vehicles.
Amphibious Vehicle Logistics still appear to still be a go so that's another one to watch.
Interesting stuff
How will this reflect on Army's structure?
Cheers S
Not structure, Stampede, but there is a tiny bit from Chief of Army (augmented by Defence Industry Minister) on the role of these vessels in the middle of this press conference
that transcript claims first LC-H will be delivered by 2028
This capability is on steroids compared to what we have had in the past
These vessels / ships will need crew and doctrine
Those sea riding passengers and vehicles will need a new skill set
we probable do it in a micro scale
but with these vessel numbers we will have a very different army
this capability will filter across a lot of corps / refits / sqns
dynamic times
cheers S
MARKMILES77
Active Member
First time that I have seen a Hawkei with an EOS Remote Weapon Station issued to an Army Unit.
10th Light Horse regiment were operating them during Excercise Austral Shield 2024.
They were equipped with 7.62 weapons.
Would be interesting to know whether the Hawkei can handle the RWS equipped with a 30mm X 113 gun?
10th Light Horse regiment were operating them during Excercise Austral Shield 2024.
They were equipped with 7.62 weapons.
Would be interesting to know whether the Hawkei can handle the RWS equipped with a 30mm X 113 gun?
Defence Imagery: 20240720adf8500704_0042.jpg
images.defence.gov.au
MARKMILES77
Active Member
Defence Imagery: 20240720adf8629401_0240.jpg
images.defence.gov.au
Interesting indeed.
So I wonder how tactics will change?
There will need to be a very big re think.
Let's say the ADF decides to island hop HIMARs units.
How will these units look?
Let's say 2 himars are deployed for an indefinite time.
How will they be protected from enemy SF?
From enemy air? From enemy drones?
Total re think on tactics, how will the resupply be conducted? There are a lot of possibilities here.
I really hope that A Res gets a lot of attention in equipment and especially in training. Regular Infantry and Arty will be stretched.
MARKMILES77
Active Member
Is Army planning to mount their HIMARS on Rheinmetall Man HX trucks rather than the traditional FMTV trucks?
They have been operating mockups of HIMARs mounted on HX trucks.
They have been operating mockups of HIMARs mounted on HX trucks.
MARKMILES77
Active Member
Yes it strikes me that training Army Reserve light infantry and cavalry for force protection of missile artillery would be a useful role for those units. They would be able to contribute to their stated continental defence role and at the same time increase the pipeline of trained soldiers for off shore deployments/ longer conflicts.
AndyinOz
Member
The mock ups I assume are examples of the intended us of the NASAM's systems with Kongsberg Defence Australia (KDA) to work with Ratheyon Australia to provide components of the system and sustainment for a number of years. Kongsberg Defence Australia to sustain NASAMS in Army service | ADBR
Redlands18
Well-Known Member
Home - Defence Technology Review (dtrmagazine.com)
Excellent interview with Head Land Capability, MAJGEN Richard Vagg goes into a lot of detail about Land 8710, Land 400, and Land 8713. MAJGEN Vagg was very insistent that the LCM-H will be LCH, and not a vessel in the Tobruk class.
DTR is currently free, just have to sign up for a free subscription.
Excellent interview with Head Land Capability, MAJGEN Richard Vagg goes into a lot of detail about Land 8710, Land 400, and Land 8713. MAJGEN Vagg was very insistent that the LCM-H will be LCH, and not a vessel in the Tobruk class.
DTR is currently free, just have to sign up for a free subscription.
A lot happening with the future LCM and LCH!
As a follow-up to rand0m’s comment about a missed opportunity on the naval thread, I feel we currently have little detail of the true capability of these future craft so it is difficult to judge
That said this is a major project costing many billions of dollars.
Good choices need to be made.
If there is one concern then that is I hope that the load carrying capacity of the LCM is much greater than the 90t suggested
Appears light for such a large sized vessel
Similar to the old LCH
The USNs new LCU 1700 are of a similar size while offering a similar range and a much greater payload.
like someone said the proof will be in the detail
I hope the detail of both craft are a good fit for the ADF
I think this will be a project to watch
Cheers S
Redlands18
Well-Known Member
This project is not about increasing load carrying capacity, it is about being able to do the job the LCM-8 has been doing for the last 40 years but with vastly superior Seakeeping, speed, range, crew and passenger facilities such as a proper Galley, sleeping and bathroom quarters, storage, working areas for mission planning etc, able to fit CIWS. I have spent time on an LCM-8 and the facilities consisted of an under-deck area with no facilities at all and the crew was sleeping on stretchers. It's about being able to conduct longer missions away from support and decreasing crew fatigue.
Landing Craft Utility (LCU) 1700-class Vessels, USA (naval-technology.com)
The USN LCU-1700 is designed around operating alongside major Amphibious ships, thus is a Ro-Ro design. The Birdon LMV-M, while capable of operating with the big Amphibs is designed around independent ops, doing beach/boat ramps to beach/BR missions, thus is not a Ro-Ro design, which would be useless in most cases.
OldTex
Well-Known Member
The article in the current issue of DTR on LAND 8710 mentions that the replacement of the LARC-V, now called the Amphibious Vehicle Logistic (AVL) will deliver its first vehicle in 2028. What seems to be missing is detail like who is actually going to deliver the vehicles and what they might even look like, let alone any other details.
Also the number to be delivered, reported as 15 in the article, does not provide many to each of the proposed littoral lift groups (perhaps 3 each). The remainder would be required for training and for the Beach Landing Team (BLT) on the LHDs. Also are the couple of LARCs used by the AAD going to be replaced with the AVLs (to provide a larger number of vehicle over which to amortise the development costs etc)
Also the number to be delivered, reported as 15 in the article, does not provide many to each of the proposed littoral lift groups (perhaps 3 each). The remainder would be required for training and for the Beach Landing Team (BLT) on the LHDs. Also are the couple of LARCs used by the AAD going to be replaced with the AVLs (to provide a larger number of vehicle over which to amortise the development costs etc)
Last edited:
From the article posted above. It clarifies that it's going to be a circa vessel of 3000t displacement with 500-600t carrying capacity. Not a Tobruk / Chinese type 072a sized vessel.
Wattisham Apache helicopters: British soldiers train Australians - BBC News
Australian soldiers are at Wattisham Flying Station, in Suffolk, getting to grips with the latest version of the aircraft.
www.bbc.com
Not sure I'd seen this before. ADF personnel training with UK Apache unit in Europe (including Latvia, which must be interesting).
I had this idea we were training in the US of A.
Now I'm wondering if we're learning from both allies..