Through the initial phase of the program, Austal will build 18 Landing Craft Medium (LC-M) for the Australian Army at its facility in Henderson, Western Australia.
The vessels – which will equip three new littoral lift groups that will be stood up in Northern Australia – will replace the Army’s fleet of Landing Craft Mechanised Mark 8 (LCM8).
Austal and Birdon were initially selected to build the vessels in November 2023, however, the project has only now been formally approved. In total, the initial phase is expected to cost slightly more than $2 billion AUD (~$1.3 billion USD) and will support more than 1,100 jobs in Henderson.
“We’ve approved the acquisition of 18 landing craft medium. The total project worth is slightly north of $2 billion,” said Pat Conroy, Australia’s Minister for Defence Industry.
“The contract with Austal is obviously part of that $2 billion. I’m not in a position to give you the exact figure due to commercial in confidence,” he added.
Designed by Australian-company Birdon, the steel-hulled landing craft are 55 metres long with a draft of 1.4 metres and beam of 10.5 metres. They can carry up to 90 tonnes, which is roughly equivalent to four fully-loaded High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), one main battle tank, or one infantry fighting vehicle and two Bushmasters.
Austal will begin building the first vessel in early 2025 with delivery scheduled for 2026. It is anticipated that the construction program will run through into the early 2030s.
The vessels, which will displace around 500 tonnes, will be significantly smaller than the planned Landing Craft Heavy (LC-H) that will be acquired through phase 2. Those, Minister Conroy said, will be in the 3-5000 tonne range.
“We are committing to building 26 very significant landing craft for the Australian Army – 18 landing craft medium, which will be around 500 tonnes in size, and eight landing craft heavy, that will be 3,000 to 5,000 tonnes. As big as a frigate, ladies and gentlemen,” Conroy explained.
It is anticipated that the first LC-H will be delivered to the Australian Army in 2028.
Australia’s Department of Defence has previously indicated that, assuming Austal performs well on the LC-M contract, it would be awarded the LC-H contract.
However, on the first day of the 2024 Indian Ocean Defence and Security Conference (IODS), Civmec and Austal announced that they had formed a joint venture to bid on the program with a proposal for construction to take place in Civmec’s assembly hall, located near Austal’s own facility in Henderson.
“By combining Civmec’s Henderson shipbuilding facilities, which include the largest heavy engineering facility of its kind in Australia, our systems, steel manufacturing expertise and 4,000 strong labour force, together with Austal’s naval shipbuilding experience and long track record of delivery, the JV would be very well placed to deliver efficient Continuous Naval Shipbuilding in Western Australia to Defence,” said Civmec’s Executive Chairman, Jim Fitzgerald.
As part of the JV, which is still subject to further negotiation, Austal would likely build modules at its Henderson shipyard which would be assembled at Civmec.
While the two initial phases of Project Land 8710 are concerned with littoral manoeuvre, phase 3 is focused on firepower. It will deliver an undisclosed number of “Fast Assault Craft” to the Army, each of which will be able to deliver direct firepower in the littoral environment.
