MANILA, Philippines - The Australian government
will donate two heavy landing craft (LCH) vessels to the Philippine government.
Australian Minister for Defense Kevin Andrews
announced Thursday the Philippines will receive newly decommissioned HMAS
Tarakan and HMAS Brunei from the Royal Australian Navy.
"I expect the vessels will be refitted and
ready for hand over in May 2015," Andrews said in a statement.
The ships will be refurbished with new safety
and navigation equipment and include a package of spare parts before they are
handed over to Manila.
The units are expected provide additional
intra-theater sealift capability to deliver supplies and equipment.
Andrews noted the lack of such capability
hampering efforts to assist the Philippines' coastal areas devastated by
Supertyphoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan) in 2013.
"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," he
said.
The Landing Craft Heavy fleet was decommissioned
from Australian service at a ceremony in Cairns on Nov. 19, 2014.
Australia has also offered the Philippines to
purchase the remaining three vessels in the fleet, namely HMAS Wewak, Betano
and Balikpapan decomissioned in 2012.
The Philippine Navy currently has eight landing
craft vessels in service.
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