Australia’s move towards heavier armoured vehicles means that the Australian Army and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) will need new landing craft to move these assets from ship to shore.
The Boxer 8x8 is replacing the ASLAV, either the Hanwha AS21 Redback or Rheinmetall KF41 Lynx will succeed the M113AS4, and future AS9 self-propelled howitzers and M1 Abrams-based specialist vehicles are coming.
This was recognised in the government’s 2020 Force Structure Plan, which promised ‘several large amphibious vessels to enhance the amphibious lift capacity of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), especially in Australia’s territorial waters and near region’.