Shipbuilder PAL Indonesia recently laid the keel of a future landing dock (LD) ordered by the Philippine Navy.
The vessel will be the third LD in the Philippine Navy's Tarlac-class ships, which are variants of the Makassar-class landing platform docks built by PAL for the Indonesian Navy.
Upon completion, the LD will have a length of 123 metres, a displacement of 7,400 tonnes, and an endurance of 30 days.
The vessel will be an upgraded Tarlac-class ship with flight deck space for up to two 10-tonne helicopters and two diesel engines that will deliver a speed of 16 knots and a range of 9,000 nautical miles. Secondary missions will include humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) and search and rescue (SAR).
PAL will also build a second upgraded Tarlac-class LD to bring the total number of ships in the class to four. The contract for the two additional ships was awarded in the middle of 2022.