The United States Marine Corps and the Australian Defence Force have selected a class of amphibious landing vessel, first introduced into service by the Nigerian Navy, as central to their future military operations across the Indo-Pacific.
The vessel, the Damen LST-100, was delivered to the Nigerian
Navy in 2022 to improve security on the country’s coasts and regional waters.
Construction of its lead vessel, NNS Kada (LST-1314), began
in 2019 at the Albwardy Damen shipyard in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and
was completed in 2021.
The 2,800-ton ship was delivered to Nigeria after a 56-day
voyage delayed by COVID-19 disruptions.
Within three months of its commissioning, Kada was deployed
operationally, transporting Nigerian troops and lightly armoured vehicles to
Guinea-Bissau as part of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
stabilisation mission following a coup attempt.
Since then, the vessel has featured in multiple regional
exercises and has supported African Union and ECOWAS missions by ferrying
personnel and equipment across the Gulf of Guinea and beyond.
In 2025, an Australian military delegation led by Colin
Bassett, visited Nigeria to assess the vessel’s capabilities as part of
Canberra’s fleet renewal plans.
Bassett described the ship as a “top-tier option” that meets
modern naval requirements.
“The Australian Defense Force is currently undertaking a
fleet renewal program, and in the course of our research, we identified NNS
Kada as a top-tier option in terms of capability and modern naval
requirements,” he had said.
“It is recognized as one of the best-designed Landing Ship
Tanks in the world, and we are keen to understand its operational efficiency
firsthand.”
Australia now plans to commission eight similar vessels between 2026 and 2038, with construction to be carried out domestically by Austal.
In the United States, the platform will be fielded as the
McClung-class landing ship medium under the marine corps’ force design
initiative.
The ships are expected to play a critical role in enabling
distributed operations, including reconnaissance and anti-ship missile
deployment in contested maritime zones.
The US navy had initially pursued a different class of
landing ships but pivoted to the LST-100 design following a programme revision
in December.
Shipbuilders Fincantieri Marinette Marine and Bollinger
Shipyards are set to construct the first vessels
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