CNIM Delivers EDA-R No. 4 to French DGA

As part of the contract awarded to CNIM by the French Defense Procurement Agency (DGA) in 2009, EDA-R (Fast Amphibious Landing Craft) no. 4 was delivered on Monday 26 November 2012, one year after the first vessel.

After arriving at the CNIM site in La Seyne-sur-Mer in October, EDA-R #04 (L9095) successfully completed the tests stipulated in the contract and was therefore accepted by the DGA. 

The EDA-R, French name of the L-CAT® Landing Catamaran, was developed by CNIM. Based on an innovative and globally unique design, the boat is a fast craft dedicated to landing operations and will equip the French Navy’s fleet of “projection and command” (BPC) vessels of the Mistral class.

EDA-Rs are designed to be launched from a vessel located beyond the horizon. They can carry out military or humanitarian operations in areas lacking harbour infrastructure and have proven their ability to quintuple logistical flow capacity relative to the landing craft previously in service,depending on weather conditions. 

Since the first EDA-R was delivered to the French Navy around a year ago, EDA-Rs have already been used in several deployments: 

Bold Alligator (joint exercise with the US Navy to test the interoperability of military equipment);
“Jeanne d’Arc” Amphibious Group Mission (operational deployment lasting several months, with 144  trainee officers on board);
Corsican Lion (joint Franco-British exercise primarily in amphibious warfare).

Further operations are also planned for 2013.