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| Juan Carlos I Class BPE |
Australia is currently in the process of building two Canberra Class LHDs (Landing Helicopter Dock) based on the Spanish Juan Carlos I Class BPE, the RAN (Royal Australian Navy) has also bought an Ex-Royal Navy (UK) Bay Class LPD (Landing Platform Dock) which will enter service by the end of this year.
These vessels will provide the RAN with an amphibious capability that Australia has never had before, to capitalize on this capability the Australian Army has announced plans to train part of the 3rd Brigade in amphibious operations.
More than 1000 infantry troops from the Townsville-based 3rd Brigade are being trained in amphibious operations and up to 350 will be at sea permanently from 2014 when two massive 27,000 tonne landing helicopter dock ships (LHDs) are due to enter service as part of a new era of "power projection".
They continue
Chief of Army Lieutenant-General David Morrison will soon announce which of the 3rd Brigade's three infantry battalions will become the army's first full-time amphibious (marine) battalion.
The battalion will be broken into three combat teams of about 350 troops each.One team will be at sea virtually full-time, one will be in lead-up training and the third will be resting.
This force will be known as an amphibious ready element (ARE). When a bigger force is required, the entire battalion will be embarked in what will be known as an amphibious ready group that will include more than 1000 troops supported by armoured vehicles and helicopters.
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| LCM-1E landing craft |
This leads to the obvious question of how will these troops deploy ashore, the Navy has already ordered 12 LCM-1E landing craft which will serve as the primary means to move troops, however there is an alternative that the Australian Government may not have considered.
The Australian Army already operates the American M-113 APC (though none are deployed with the 3rd Brigade), this older APC has served many countries well for decades and has been developed into several variants. One such variant is the Italian Arisgator amphibious APC, the existing M-113 is upgraded via a kit built by the Italian company Aris, this would give the 3rd Brigade ARG (Amphibious Ready Group) the ability to deploy from the ship to shore, and into combat under armored protection, independently of landing craft, which could bring other vehicles (such as tanks, trucks & jeeps) ashore.
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| Arisgator |
The Arisgator would be less expensive than buying a new vehicle of similar capability, and have the advantage of parts commonality with the rest of the M-113 fleet, while the crew’s would also be familiar with how the vehicle operates (some additional training would be required for the new amphibious capabilities), leading to enhanced interoperability with infantry units not specifically trained in the Arisgator use.
I plan on suggesting this course of action to the Minister of Defence and my local MP (Treasure & Dept PM Wane Swan) in the near future, any thoughts you might have on this subject would be appreciated.