An AS9 (front) and an AS21 being carried on LCM-1E LHD landing craft in Sydney Harbour. Photos: SGT Tristan Kennedy, ADF.
The Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army have worked together to conduct an initial series of embarkation trials of new army armoured vehicles aboard navy amphibious vessels.
The trials were conducted in July at Sydney’s Garden Island naval base, and involved a new AS9 Huntsman self-propelled howitzer (SPH), AS10 armoured ammunition resupply vehicle (AARV), an AS21 Redback infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) and a HX81 truck and trailer.
The vehicles were initially embarked through a side loading ramp, before navy LCM-1E LHD landing craft (LLC) and Mexeflote-powered pontoons were used to transport the vehicles from and to the landing helicopter dock (LHD) HMAS Canberra via the vessel’s well dock.
The trials were led by Defence’s Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG), and were designed to verify the embarkation, deck handling, and disembarkation of the new vehicles aboard the ship.
The AS9 and AS10 are being acquired through Defence’s Project LAND 8116 Batch 1, with the first vehicles recently entering service with the army’s 106 Battery, 4th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery at Townsville’s Lavarack Barracks.
An AS9 loading on HMAS Canberra via the side vehicle ramp.
The AS21 Redback is being manufactured alongside the AS9/AS10 at Hanwha Defence Australia’s Armoured Vehicle Centre of Excellence (H-ACE) at Avalon near Geelong, with the first of 129 AS21s due to enter army service from 2027 as part of Project LAND 400 Phase 3.
The LHDs can carry hundreds of vehicles as well as a dozen helicopters and more than 800 troops, and deploy them to remote littoral areas. The LCM-1E has been specifically designed to operate from within the LHDs’ well docks to load and transport equipment to and from the shore.
While the army’s future Landing Craft Medium (LCM) and Landing Craft Heavy (LCH) vessels won’t be able to use the LHDs’ well docks, they will be able to interface with the LCM-1Es and Mexeflotes to transfer vehicles and equipment for longer amphibious missions.
A Mexeflote bringing an AS21 into HMAS Canberra‘s well dock.
