New Zealand's MPV moves 250 troops along with their equipment and supplies for a month, this from the N.Z. MoD, the N.Z. Navy, and the Tenix websites, not one hundred. 403 lane meters of vehicle space in the MPV, plus 33 containers. How that matches up with the LPA's 2,000 tons on 1,765 meters square of deck space is beyond my calculation. Both ships carry two LCM-8s. The LPA carries one 70 ton crane, the MPV carries two 60 ton cranes. Future plans call for further conversion of the LPA with an elevator to permit stowing helicopters on the vehicle deck, and side vehicle loading doors. The MPV will have both of these items already when commissioned. The LPA does have a command and control communications center, the MPV will have N.Z. military communications.
The Newport has three helicopter landing spots, the MPV has two helicopter landing spots. The Newport can carry 4 Blackhawks or 3 Sea Kings, the MPV an carry 4 NH-90s plus one SeaSprite. Frankly I don't see much differences between the two ships, they are of equal size except the LPA carries more troops probably in lesser quality accomodations than the MPV.
I would suppose the MPV would borrow a CIWS from one of the Anzac frigates which isn't escorting it into unfriendly skies near the Asian mainland or in Indonesian waters. I was under the impression that the Australians did the same with their limited number of CIWS.
I read this at the ADI website that is supplying the gun mount:
ADI will fit the MSI DS25M gun system to three of the seven vessels now under construction by Australian shipbuilder Tenix for New Zealand's Protector program. The gun is the US-made 25 mmm Bushmaster cannon as used in Australian and New Zealand light armoured vehicles. It's fitted to a deck mount designed by MSI-Defence Systems, UK and can be operated by remote control from inside the vessel.
The key words are remote control. That implies a computer operator will operate the gun. There will also be 2 50 calibre 12.7 mm machine guns on the MPV too.
For the price of US$120 million, or NZ$250 million, New Zealand in my humble opinion will receive a good brand new ship, whereas Australia squandered A$400 million cost overruns on ageing ships. I won't quarrel whether Australia spent much more on electronic countermeasures, Nulka chaff and decoys, I'm sure LPA is better equipped for warfare. Without the cost overruns, Australia did well modernizing two Newport class LSTs for a reasonable price. But these cost overruns are high in anyone's book. The A$400 million alone would have purchased a brand new Dutch Enforcer of 15-16,000 tons displacement, probably with twice the capacity of one LPA.
