Boats With Wheels for Australian Navy

In "Ship-to-shore utility key link in ADF amphibious vision" (Asia-Pacific Defence Reporter, Jun 2014), Ian Bostock wrote that the Australian Defence Force (ADF) would have a problem getting people and supplies from their new amphibious ships to shore. The ADF has only a few old amphibious cargo vehicles (LARC). Other vehicles will need to be transported in a few landing barges. Even the rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIB) will need trailers for launching from the well decks of the ships. 

One option would be to make the inflatable boats amphibious, by adding three retractable wheels, as with  New Zealand’s Sealegs amphibious rigid inflatable boat. These can self launch and recover through the well deck of an amphibious ship (and also drive over sand bars and up the beach). A lower cost option would be un-powered wheels, with the crew pushing the boat.

The Australian Light Armoured Vehicle has limited amphibious capability, which could be supplemented with additional flotation using RHIB technology and propulsion for beach landings. New Zealand company Lancer manufacture inflatable tubes up to 20m long and 1 m diameter and these have been used for military purposes. The bow of the vessel could be simply deflated to allow loading and unloading the vehicle. The boat could be fixed to the vehicle, with the wheels protracting through the bottom, so it could be driven on land. The Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle could be similarly adapted; while is is not designed to be amphibious, it can ford to a depth of 1.2 m without any preparation. The French EFA floating bridge, with a 50 tonne capacity, shows that military vehicle using inflatable flotation is feasable.

Australian Army Planning for Marine Operations

The Australian Army is restructuring to have three "manoeuvre brigades" which can operate with the Navy for amphibious operations under "Plan Beersheba" (with details in Army News). This will require the Army to relearn old skills. With the delivery of two Canberra class Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships and Hobart class air warfare destroyers, Australia will have the nucleus for amphibious operations. However, Australia will not have fixed wing aircraft to operate a US style carrier strike group.

F-35B STOVL Fighter for Australian Sea Control Ship

This is to suggest the Australian Government order 24 F-35B Lightning II STOVL aircraft to equip the HMAS Canberra and HMAS Adelaide. The Canberra and Adelaide are currently described as Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships, operating only helicopters from the flight deck. However, the Australian government ordered the ships fitted with ski-jump ramps intended for Short Takeoff - Vertical Landing (STOVL) fixed wing aircraft. With these aircraft, the ships will then be able to carry out their primary mission, of amphibious operations. Without the protection of aircraft, the ships will be limited to operating close to the Australian coast.



The F-35B is the highest technical rusk, most expensive and lowest performance of the three F-35 variants. Currently the Australian government is considering ordering the conventional takeoff F-35A, which is less risky, cheaper and higher performance. However, the F-35B offers the ability to operate from a ship's deck and retains the stealth characteristics and a useful payload. The extra cost of the F-35B has in effect been underwritten, by the other variants and has performed well in recent shipboard trials.

Risks remain with the F-35 project. Australia could order 24 F-35Bs, sufficient for the two ships. If the F-35 turns out to be successful, then F-35As could be ordered later for land-based use. Otherwise more F/A-18Fs could be ordered for land use and just the 24 F-35Bs retained for shipboard use.

Stern Landing Vessels for Australian Military

Sea Transport Corporation has proposed a militarized version of their Stern Landing Vessel (SLV) for use as a heavy landing craft for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The SLV design has been used for civilian passenger ferries. The vessel has a conventional "V" shaped bow at one end and a ramp at the other. This way the ship can travel efficiently in heavy seas and need only back into the beach to unload.

The 65m vessel depicted would have a payload of 400 tons for the ADF Landing Craft Heavy Replacement (Phase 5 t JP 2048 Phase 3 of Amphibious Watercraft Replacement). The 2000Kw propulsion would give a speed of 15 knots and range of 2600 n miles with 83T fuel. This is about twice the capacity and speed of the current Balikpapan class LCH (Landing Craft, Heavy), over a similar range.

The SLV design has an open vehicle deck, typical of military landing craft. However, landing craft of the RAN tend to be used for general duties and rarely for beach landings. It might therefore make sense to build them with a covered vehicle deck. There would be space for a passenger deck behind the bridge (as with the JHSV) and a medium sized helipad above the rear vehicle deck. This would restrict the view from the bridge when beach landing, but video cameras could be used, along with large format high resolution flat screen displays to provide virtual windows on the bridge (also providing some protection for the crew).

The covered vehicle deck would be able to hold ISO shipping container sized equipment modules, as used on littoral combat ships. This would make for a versatile general purpose ship.