Page 64 - Australian Defence Magazine May 2022

64 SEAPOWER HADR
MAY 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
MARITIME CAPABILITY IN SUPPORT OF THE COMMUNITY
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has been involved in a number of recent international and domestic Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) efforts, including Operation Fiji Assist 2020-2021, Operation Bushfire Assist, Operation Flood Assist, Operation COVID-19 Assist and Operation Tonga Assist.
ROYA GHODSI | SYDNEY
THE RAN’s 27,000 tonne Canberra Class Landing Helicop- ter Dock (LHD) ships – HMAS Adelaide and Canberra – provide the force with a sophisticated air-land-sea amphibi- ous deployment system for coordinating HADR missions from the sea.
Containing a flight deck and well dock for air and mari- time operations comparable to the airport and port of a small regional town, the LHDs are able to land a force of over 1,000 personnel by helicopter and water craft, along with all their weapons, ammunition, vehicles and stores.
The flexibility and reach of the amphibious and rotary wing capabilities operating from the LHDs make them Australia’s most capable and high-readiness vessels for re- sponding to natural disasters in the region.
Most recently, they spearheaded the RAN’s response to the January disaster on the small Pacific nation of Tonga.
OPERATION TONGA ASSIST
Three RAN vessels – HMA Ships Adelaide, Supply and Canberra – were deployed as part of Australia’s HADR sup- port for Tonga following the eruption of the Hunga Tonga- Hunga Ha’apai underwater volcano on 15 January 2022 and the subsequent tsunami.
“As part of the Whole of Australian Government effort, coordinated by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Defence is working with our friends and partners, including New Zealand, Fiji, France, USA, Japan, UK and India, to provide HADR support to Tonga,” a Defence spokesperson told ADM in late February.
“This is the value of our community in the Pacific. When one of us is in need of help, the Pacific family rallies around them to lend a hand.”
HMAS Adelaide left Brisbane for Tonga on 20 January