Fincantieri has been awarded a $30 million contract to start work on the first four vessels for the U.S. Navy’s Medium Landing Ship (LSM) programme.
As per a company press statement, the agreement will finance materials and engineering for the first four ships in a programme which could eventually see as many as 35 of the landing craft built.
The LSMs will be built to Damen’s LST-100 design; they are 100-metre roll-on, roll-off vessels, which in Damen’s standard configuration have a range of about 4,000 nautical miles and a crew of 18, and can accommodate up to 500 tons of cargo.
The U.S. Navy announced it had selected the Damen design at the end of 2025. Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) John Phelan said at the time that America would acquire “at least 35” of the ships.
As per U.S. Congress documentation, the programme “envisions procuring a class of 18 to 35 new amphibious ships to support the Marine Corps, particularly in implementing a new Marine Corps operational concept called Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO).”
Fincantieri described the LSM as “a foundational element of the U.S. Navy’s fleet and of the U.S. Marine Corps’ force design, enabling distributed operations, enhanced littoral mobility, and the rapid manoeuvre and sustainment of forces in contested environments.”
CEO and Managing Director of Fincantieri Pierroberto Folgiero called the move “an important step in the evolution of our long-standing partnership with the U.S. Navy” and added: “It reflects the confidence placed in the industrial capabilities built in the United States and in our ability to support complex naval programs with discipline, speed, and technical excellence.”
In August it was announced that the Royal Australian Navy had selected the same Damen platform for its eight-ship Landing Craft Heavy programme.
- You can read more details on the Fincantieri website