Amphibious Landing Vessels

HC Deb 10 April 2001 vol 366 cc522-3W

Mr. Jim Cunningham

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the capabilities will be of the amphibious landing vessels that will replace the existing ones. [157865]

Mr. Hoon

The Alternative Landing Ships Logistic (ALSLs) are designed for the carriage and offload at sea of troops, their equipment and stores, including ammunition, directly into a potentially hostile environment. They represent an important element of the modernisation of the UK amphibious capability foreseen in the Strategic Defence Review.

The current Landing Ships Logistics (LSLs) are mostly over 30 years old and of decreasing utility. The four new ALSLs will each have double the Linear Metre capacity of an LSL, thus providing greater vehicle and equipment carriage to support the embarked troops. This represents a marked increase in our amphibious lift capability. The ALSLs will be able to offload troops more quickly, by sea and air simultaneously, at a safer distance, and in significantly worse sea conditions. They can also provide tactical logistics support to land forces, and are flexible ships which can undertake a wide variety of other military tasks.