The Australian government has selected its preferred design for the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) Landing Craft Heavy (LCH), local naval shipbuilder Austal Australia confirmed on Monday, November 25.
Eight LCH vessels will be built by Austal at the Henderson Defence Precinct in Western Australia, subject to acceptable commercial negotiations and demonstrated performance.
Each LCH will have a displacement of 3,900 tonnes, an LOA of 100 metres, a beam of 16 metres, self-defence weapon systems, and a carrying capacity of 500 tonnes. The various payloads can include six Abrams main battle tanks, 11 Redback infantry fighting vehicles, or 26 HIMARS rocket launchers.
Austal expects to commence construction of the first LCH in 2026. The potential value of the project to Austal’s order book is yet to be fully determined and will be developed through the ongoing commercial discussions with the Australian government in the coming months.
The ADF's LCH is a variant of an existing landing ship design already in operation. One example was delivered to the Nigerian Navy in 2022.