Canberra class large amphibious ship

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The Australian government has approved a AU$2 billion project to build two Canberra class large amphibious ships for the Royal Australian Navy. These ships will have air support, amphibious assault, transport and command centre roles, and are planned to replace in turn HMAS Tobruk and one of the RAN's two current Kanimbla class vessels.

1 Overview
2 Indicative specifications
- 2.1 Comparative statistics
- 2.2 Aviation capability
3 Notes
4 External links
5 See also

[edit] Overview

The Australian government's requirements include the capacity to transport up to 1,000 troops and 150 vehicles, including the M1A1 Abrams tank soon to enter service with the Australian Army, have six helicopter spots on a full length flight deck for a mix of both transport and battlefield support helicopters, and a fully equipped hospital. On January 20, 2006, it was announced that the two ships would be named Canberra and Adelaide.^[1]

In August 2005, the government chose two designs to participate in a run off.^[2] The first is a modified version of the French Mistral class which is being proposed by the French company Aramis teamed with Australian Defence Industries. The second design is based on Spanish Buque de Proyección Estratégica design and is being proposed by the Spanish company Navantia teamed with Tenix.^[3] The Navantia design would be larger, at approximately 27,000 tonnes, but the first unit for the Spanish Navy has only just started construction, making it an unknown quantity in terms of capability. By contrast, the French design is smaller, at approximately 24,000 tonnes, but has entered service with the French Navy.

While the Australian Government has stated that it would prefer the ships to built in Australia, the Defence Materiel Organisation has raised doubts over whether the ships can be constructed in Australia for their budgeted price.^[4] The projected in service date for the HMAS Canberra is 2012.

[edit] Indicative specifications

The Canberra class ships will be the largest warships ever operated by the Royal Australian Navy and will weigh up to 7,000 tons more than the RAN's last aircraft carrier, HMAS Melbourne.^[5] Each of the ships will be able to carry an Army battalion. The Canberra class's armament has not yet been selected, but will probably be purely defensive.

[edit] Comparative statistics

	Mistral class variant	BPE variant	Kanimbla class	HMAS Tobruk	*HMAS Melbourne* (II)** (aircraft carrier)
Displacement (tons)	24,000	27,000	8,500	5,800	20,000
Range (nm)	11,000	9,000	14,000	8,000	12,000
Crew	177	240	210	145	1070-1355
Troops	1000	1000	450	300	n/a
Vehicles (sq metres)	1000	2000	700	330	n/a
Helicopters	16 (6 spots)	11 (6 spots)	4 (3 spots)	0 (3 spots)	Up to 26 aircraft
Landing craft	4 LCM	4 LCM	2 LCM-8	2 LCM-8	n/a

Source: Borgu (2004) A Capability of First Resort? page 6.

[edit] Aviation capability

Australian Army S-70 Blackhawk transport helicopters operating from a U.S. Wasp class amphibious assault ship

The Canberra class ships will provide the Australian Defence Force with greatly increased naval aviation capabilities, with each ship carrying up to 16 Army and Navy helicopters. These aircraft will include Army and Navy MRH-90 transport helicopters, Army Tiger helicopter gunships and Navy S-70B Seahawk anti-submarine helicopters. The Canberra class will primarily operate as amphibious assault ships, however, and should not be mistaken for aircraft carriers.

While the tender released for the Canberra class does not specify that the ships need to be capable of operating STOVL fixed wing aircraft,^[6] it has been proposed that such a capacity be included in the final design. In 2004 a review by the Australian Parliament's Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade recommended that the Australian government should consider purchasing a small number of F-35Bs for the Fleet Air Arm to operate from the Canberra class ships.^[7] This recommendation appears to have been rejected by the Australian Navy and there has been "no consideration" given to using the ships to operate fixed-wing aircraft.^[8]

Impression of a F-35 in RAN colours

The Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade's recommendation was made on the grounds that STOVL aircraft would provide deployed Australian forces with air defence and close air support. Despite the limitations in terms of range and payload of STOVL over CTOL aircraft, they are inherently flexible in terms of operation, and can provide organic close air support right at the edge of the Field of Battle Area, which conventional aircraft would be less able to do. An order of F-35Bs for the RAN could form part of the planned order of up to 100 F-35As for the Royal Australian Air Force. The Spanish contender has a ski-jump included in its initial design, and is immediately capable of operating JSF; the French contender does not have this feature (due to France not operating STOVL aircraft), and so would have to be modified to suit Australian needs in this area, should it be chosen and JSF added to the requirement.