The French defence procurement agency, Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA), took delivery, on November 24 in Toulon, of the first fast amphibious landing craft (EDAR) which multiplies by five the landing capacity provided by conventional landing craft presently in service. The EDA-R will be operated by the French navy’s Mistral class Bâtiments de Projection et de Commandement (BPC) amphibious warfare ships.

Based on the Landing Catamaran (L-CAT) concept developed and patented by the engineering company CNIM (Constructions industrielles de la Méditerranée), the EDA-R is a catamaran-hulled vessel during the fast transit phase, but turns into a flat-bottomed vessel for beaching and for entering the well-deck of its mother ships thanks to its central elevating platform. Each BPC ship can carry two EDA-Rs in its well deck.

Developed to land troops and heavy vehicles from ships remaining at beyond-the-horizon distances (over 30 nautical miles or 55 km) from shore, the EDA-Rs will also be suitable for humanitarian missions in areas that have no berthing facilities.

About 30 metres long and 12 metres wide, the EDA-R has a payload of 80 tonnes and top speeds of 18 knots at full load or 30 knots empty. Its forward and access ramps simplify loading and unloading of vehicles. Overall, the logistical throughput of a single EDA-R is five times greater than that of the conventional landing craft currently in service with the French navy.

The Socarenam shipyard, a subcontractor to prime contractor CNIM, builds the EDA-R hull in its Saint-Malo facility, and fits it out in another facility in Boulogne-sur-Mer.

The workload generated by the production of the four craft is estimated at about 4,00,000 manhours, and supports over 100 jobs for three years.