DGA receives amphibious landing craft

The French defence procurement agency (DGA) has announced that it has taken delivery of the first fast amphibious landing craft (Engin de Débarquement Amphibie Rapide, or EDA-R). The vessel is the first of four to be delivered under a contract signed in 2009 with engineering company CNIM.

The EDA-R  will be operated by the French navy’s Mistral-class Bâtiments de Projection et de Commandement (BPC) amphibious warfare ships. According to the DGA, the vessel has five times the landing capacity provided by conventional landing craft presently in service.

EDA-R is a catamaran-hulled vessel during the fast transit phase, but turns into a flat-bottomed vessel for beaching and for entering the well-deck of its mother ships thanks to its central elevating platform. Each BPC ship can carry two EDA-Rs in its well deck.

Based on the Landing Catamaran (L-CAT) concept developed and patented by CNIM, the vessel was developed to land troops and heavy vehicles from ships remaining at beyond-the-horizon distances (over 30 nautical miles, or 55 km) from shore, and will also be suitable for humanitarian missions in areas that have no berthing facilities.

At 30 meters long and 12 meters wide, the EDA-R has a payload of 80 metric tonnes and top speeds of 18 knots at full load or 30 knots empty. Its forward and access ramps simplify loading and unloading of vehicles.

According to the DGA the three other vessels will be delivered by mid-2012.