Home Asia Pacific Australian littoral maneuver vessel contender gets structural approval

Australian littoral maneuver vessel contender gets structural approval

Oboe landing craft for Australian Army
Photo: Serco

The Australian Maritime Alliance, a teaming between Serco and Civmec, has obtained ‘structural approval in principle’ from class certification society DNV for the Oboe design it is pitching for the Australian Army’s LAND 8710 Phase 1A littoral maneuver vessel medium (LMV-M) tender.

The Oboe is an amphibious vessel capable of carrying a diverse range of combat and support vehicles in service with the Australian Army.

In addition to a increasing load carrying capacity over the LCM-8 vessels they will replace, the Oboe offers both an extended range, and improved accommodation facilities, to support long endurance independent operations.

“This design represents the next-generation in amphibious capability for Army, and with a stellar line up of the best Australian Industry has to offer, AMA is set to deliver just that,” Serco Defence managing director Clint Thomas said.

The Australian Maritime Alliance is one of three currently known contenders in Australia’s program to develop a new amphibious vehicle (AV) to replace the Army’s lighter amphibious resupply cargo 5 ton vehicle (LARC-V), and an independent landing craft (ILC) to replace the current landing craft mechanized (LCM-8) vessels.

Serco rendering of the Oboe design

Navantia with its Kodal 75S design, and a team composed of Raytheon Australia, Austal and BMT, have already revealed their designs for the program.

Australia launched the tender for the replacement of LARC-V and LCM-8 in February 2021. It plans to invest up to A$800 million to acquire the new fleets of amphibious vehicles and landing craft.

The new vehicles and vessels are proposed for introduction from 2026.