Canberra accelerates build of landing ships in Perth

The federal government will accelerate the build of 18 medium landing craft for the Army’s new littoral fleet at the Henderson shipyard in Perth.

The $2 billion project is expected to create 1,100 direct jobs and more than 2,000 indirect jobs, and is part of a programme that will also deliver heavy landing craft as well as amphibious vehicles.

The first of the medium landing craft vessels, designed by Birdon and to be built by Austal, 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.

The Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy spoke at Henderson today and 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, enhance our ability to work with regional military partners, and support communities across the Indo-Pacific with humanitarian and disaster relief operations.”

The government is investing $7 billion towards littoral manoeuvre vessels.

The medium landing craft have a range of up to 2,00 nautical miles when operating with the Landing Craft Heavy.

They are 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.

Picture: Pat Conroy makes the announcement at Henderson, Western Australia