Fleet Air Arm
Association of Australia
LHD Announcement
24 June 2007
Australia will buy two large Spanish landing ships with extensive helicopter-carrying capacity plus three Spanish-designed destroyers.
The Prime Minister, Mr Howard, said the Australian Navy would be equipped with two 27,000 tonne Navantia landing (LHD) ships at a cost of about $3 billion.
They will enter service in 2012 and 2014 and will have the capacity to carry up to eight helicopters.
He said the purchases would add significantly to Australia's military capability and would also help with disaster relief efforts.
"These ships will be able to land over 1,000 personnel along with their vehicles - the new M1 Abrams tanks, artillery and supplies, and using integrated helicopters and water craft."
He said about a quarter of the construction work on the landing ships would take place in Australia, generating about 600 jobs.
The superstructure would be constructed and the majority of the fitout would be completed in Melbourne with an estimated value of about $500 million.
The majority of the combat system design and integration work would take place in Adelaide and the value of that work would be up to about $100 million.
Mr Howard said the Navantia destroyers had been selected as the next generation air warfare destroyer for the RAN.
The three Spanish-designed destroyers would be delivered in 2014, 2016 and 2017.
They would be assembled in Adelaide by an alliance between navy shipbuilder ASC, the Defence Materiel Organisation and mission systems company Raytheon.
| LHD PERFORMANCE | ||
| Speed | Max | 20.5 kts |
| Top (Normal) | 19.0 kts | |
| Economical | 15.0 kts | |
| Range | Standard | 6,100 nm at 15 kts |
| Option | 7,050 nm at 12 kts | |
| Endurance | Core Complement | 50 days |
| PLATFORM CHARACTERISTICS | ||
| Length | Overall | 230.8 m |
| Waterline | 207.2 m | |
| Beam | 32.0 m | |
| Draught | 7.18 m | |
| Displacement | Maximum | 27,851 t |
| Complement | Crew | 243 |
| Embarked Forces | 978 | |
| Additional | Crew | 36 |
| Embarked Forces | 146 | |
Pictures and technical data courtesy of Tenix Pty Limited
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