Article Posted on : - May 01, 2012

The landing catamaran. A French MoD photo

TOULON, FRANCE (BNS): The French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) has taken delivery of the third amphibious landing craft, EDA-R 3, for the Navy last month.

The 30 meters long and 12 meters wide vessel was handed over to the DGA at French Navy's Toulon facility on April 20, DGA said.

Based on the concept of Landing Catamaran (L-CAT), the EDA-R 3 is designed to perform landing of troops and military vehicles from ships positioned beyond the horizon (30 nautiques/55 km) off the shore.

The ship has a payload of 80 tons and a speed of 18 knots while fully loaded. It offers five times the landing capacity of existing landing craft presently in service with the French Navy.

The DGA took delivery of the first such vessel, EDA-R 1, in November, 2011 while the second craft, EDA-R 2, was handed over to it in January this year.

The EDA-Rs will be operated by the French Navy's Mistral-class Bâtiments de Projection et de Commandement (BPC) amphibious warfare ships.

The French Navy has ordered four such landing crafts with deliveries scheduled to be completed this year.