Australia To Donate Heavy Landing Craft To Philippines.

Australia is donating two recently decommissioned Balikpapan-class heavy landing craft (LCH) vessels to the Philippines, Defence Minister Kevin Andrews announced on 29 January.

Australia To Donate Heavy Landing Craft To Philippines.

The last three of the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN's) 364-tonne, 45 m LCHs were decommissioned on 20 November 2014.

The vessels - HMAS Brunei , HMAS Labuan , and HMAS Tarakan - were inducted into RAN service in 1973. Following decommissioning, Labuan was gifted to the Papua New Guinea Defence Force Maritime Element.

The three other ships of the class - HMAS Wewak , HMAS Balikpapan , and HMASBetano - were retired in December 2012.

Tarakan and Brunei will be handed over to the Philippine Navy in May after being refurbished with new safety and navigation equipment, Andrews said in a statement.

The statement said the LCHs would help the Philippines' humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) capabilities, which were tested in 2013's Typhoon Haiyan.

"The landing craft will greatly improve the Philippines' ability to respond to natural disasters by enabling heavy equipment and large amounts of aid to be moved to affected areas," Andrews said.

The statement said that Manila was also considering whether to purchase Wewak ,Betano , and Balikpapan .

Meanwhile, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress on 25 January of the possible purchase by Australia of six BAE Systems M88A2 heavy equipment recovery combat utility lift and evacuation system (Hercules) improved recovery vehicles and associated equipment.

The deal, estimated at USD47 million, would see Canberra buy six "M88A2 Hercules heavy recovery vehicles and seven force XXI battle command, brigade and below/blue force trackers, with AN/PSN-13(V) global positioning system and defence advanced GPS receivers", the DSCA said in a statement.

Australia already has seven M88A2 Hercules in service, purchased in 2006 as part of a US Foreign Military Sales package deal worth AUD557 million (USD419 million) that also included 59 M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks.