Australian Maritime Alliance (AMA), a joint venture between Serco and Civmec, has teamed up with IMC Naval Architects to deliver a state-of-the-art solution for the Australian Army’s LAND 8710 Phase 1A program.
For the project, AMA is offering a littoral manoeuvre vessel-medium (LMV-M) design, ‘Oboe’, with IMC’s complementary capabilities.
According to the alliance, the addition of IMC as an Australian naval architecture and marine engineering consultant brings a wide portfolio of local skills, experience and expertise reinforcing AMA’s sovereign proposal.
Said to represent a step-change in amphibious operations capability for the Army, the Oboe features a through-deck design, allowing for more flexible load/offload options and rapid ramp-to-ramp marriages with amphibious and sealift ships.
The design offers seakeeping and load carrying capabilities, with Oboe’s three-deck design allowing the crew accommodation and engineering spaces to benefit from large dedicated full-width compartments, and brings over 200 square metres of useable vehicle deck to facilitate mixed load configurations.
Serco Defence’s managing director, Clint Thomas , said the AMA is maximising Australian industry skills for the complex project for Army, ensuring shipbuilding expertise remains in-country long-term.
This summer, the class certification society DNV granted structural approval in principle (AiP) for the AMA’s design for the Australian Army’s LAND 8710 phase 1A LMV-M tender.