Gold Coast-based naval architecture and marine engineering company Seatransport is offering a version of its Stern Landing Vessel (SLV) for Army’s Land 8710 Phase 2 (Littoral Manoeuvre Vessel-Heavy) program.
Defence is seeking to acquire a fleet of LMV-H vessels to replace the Balikpapan-class Landing Craft Heavy (LCH) vessels paid off in 2012.
The Seatransport SLV design is 71 metres in length and a prototype is currently in an advanced stage of construction in a commercial shipyard in Indonesia. The company says it can be available for “charter or lease by either commercial or military customers as a demonstrator and trials vessel”.
“It is a commercial vessel for commercial usage but would have similarities to a military version,” Seatransport CEO Kieran Carvill told ADM. “There are no detailed requirements available for 8710/2 at this juncture so it would be difficult to design to requirements that are not yet known (but) it is designed to be a highly efficient and manoeuvrable vessel with brown and blue water capabilities that can be used for commercial and military purposes.”
The vessel has been designed in Australia by Seatransport and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2024. The design features a conventional bow, which the company says will allow it to undertake blue water transit missions at higher speeds and at longer range, as well as exhibiting better seakeeping qualities than a traditional bow-loading landing craft.
Carvill said that, because the vessel is proven in commercial service in Australia and across the region it will come with lower acquisition and through-life costs.
“This means greater numbers of SLVs can be built in a shorter time, allowing introduction of the capability sought by Project Land 8710 Phase 2 to be accelerated,” he added.
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Seatransport’s SLV design is capable of carrying a 550-tonne payload on its 560 square metre cargo deck, sufficient to enable the carriage of 18 Bushmasters protected mobility vehicles, or 18 HIMARS launchers, or eight of the Army’s new M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks. For Humanitarian and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations, Carvill said the load carried by a single vessel could include six HX77 8x8 trucks, three 40M 4x4 trucks, a pair of back-hoe loaders and one bulldozer.
“The all-steel SLV is readily built at any number of mid-to-large shipyards in Australia and abroad,” Carvill added.