The US Marine Corps (USMC) is using the Australian-designed stern landing vessel (SLV) Matilda 1 to test contested logistics and littoral manoeuvre concepts from Darwin.
The Australian Army will embark teams aboard but currently has no plans to acquire an SLV of its own.
The 73-metre vessel was designed by Queensland naval architecture firm SeaTransport and built by Karimun Anugrah Sejati in Batam, Indonesia. She has been operated by the USMC since July under a three-year charter.
The SLV is homeported in Darwin, where she supports the Marine Rotational Force – Darwin.
"The SLV gives the marine corps a hands-on opportunity to learn how shallow-draught, high-capacity shore-to-shore vessels can sustain distributed forces across the littorals without relying on fixed ports or large amphibious ships," Aaron Hatfield, the science and technology division's maritime program manager at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL), told The Australian.
"The value of chartering a platform like this is speed: it lets us put a real vessel to sea now, learn quickly and reduce risk for the capabilities that follow," he added.
MCWL said in its July 17 charter announcement that the SLV will operate across the western Pacific and Oceania in partnership with the Australian Army. It will also support the Australian Army's 1st Division.
MariGuard manages the vessel on behalf of the laboratory, which described Matilda 1 as its second experimental platform. The experimentation is intended to improve procedures, tactics and techniques for operating in littoral and archipelagic settings. It will also provide data for the final design of the US Navy's medium landing ship.
MCWL called the charter "a critical bridge to future naval capabilities".
Matilda 1 can sail from Darwin to Manila and back with a 550-tonne payload and can survive conditions up to Sea State seven. Her cargo deck can carry up to 18 HIMARS launchers or twelve 32-tonne 8x8 amphibious combat vehicles.
The vessel has a range of 4,000 nautical miles and a 12.7-metre-wide stern ramp, and her deck is configured for 84 TEUs. Accommodation is provided for eight crew and up to 36 additional personnel, as previously detailed by Baird Maritime.
Contractor and end-user sea trials were completed by mid-June. On July 8, the vessel landed stern-first at Dundee Beach, southwest of Darwin, and withdrew without tug assistance or hull damage. A week earlier, she completed trials in which she dried out and berthed on the mangrove mudflats of Hudson Creek.
Australian Army teams are expected to take part in a learning exercise aboard Matilda 1 for several weeks.