The Minister for Defence Industry, Pat Conroy, announced that the initial phase of Project Land 8710 - Littoral Manoeuvre Vessels - had been formally approved by government on 23 July.
The initial phase will see Birdon and Austal receive just over $2 billion between them to build 18 Landing Craft Mediums (LCM) for the Australian Army at Austal’s shipyard in Henderson.
The new landing craft - alongside their heavy counterparts - will form the backbone of three new Littoral Lift Groups that will be stood up in Queensland and the Northern Territory.
“We've approved the acquisition of 18 landing craft medium. The total project worth is slightly north of $2 billion,” Minister Conroy told ADM in Henderson.
“The contract with Austal is obviously part of that $2 billion. I'm not in a position to give you the exact figure due to commercial in confidence,” he clarified.
Approval of the first phase of the project comes nearly eight months after Austal and Birdon were originally announced as the winners of the tender in November 2023.
The November announcement came alongside news that Austal had signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) with the Commonwealth to become its strategic shipbuilding partner in Western Australia.
As part of the agreement, pending Austal’s performance as part of the LCM program, it will also build eight much larger Landing Craft Heavy (LCH) vessels for the Army.
“We are committing to building 26 very significant landing craft for the Australian Army - 18 landing craft medium, which will be around 500 tonnes in size, and eight landing craft heavy, that will be 3,000 to 5,000 tonnes,” Minister Conroy added.
“[Workers] can work on landing craft medium, and then landing craft heavy, and subject to further negotiations with Austal, as the strategic shipbuilding pilot, potentially general-purpose frigates and the large optionally crewed surface vessel.”