iscover
The vessel will arrive in Western Australia ahead of an annual resupply mission.
French Antarctic resupply ship L’Astrolabe will dock in Fremantle, Western Australia, from 30 August to late October for maintenance at Henderson shipyard before setting sail to the Southern Ocean and Antarctic waters.
Crewed by French Navy personnel, the ship will then head to Tasmania for resupply operations over the summer.
The patrol vessel has been making the journey to Australia since 2017.
Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Michael Noonan, noted the strength of the Royal Australian Navy’s partnership with Marine Nationale.
“We are always pleased to welcome back L'Astrolabe on her annual summer resupply mission," VADM Noonan said.
"MV L’Astrolabe and her French Navy crew were instrumental in assisting the Australian Antarctic Division with the resupply mission to Macquarie Island during the 2019-20 Australian summer period."
This is the latest Antarctic resupply ship involving in the ADF, with a Royal Australian Air Force C-17A Globemaster III recently air-dropping over nine tonnes of supplies in support of Operation Southern Discovery — the ADF’s contribution to Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) research.
Supplies carried by the Boeing-built aircraft, which travelled 11,000 kilometres on a 15-hour round trip, included vital equipment, fresh food, medical supplies, and mail and gifts from loved ones to the 18 scientists, researchers and staff at Mawson Station.
The mission required an in-flight refuelling over the Southern Ocean from a RAAF KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport.
The air drop involved approximately three months of planning, complicated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with personnel from Army’s 176 Air Dispatch Squadron required to quarantine in Tasmania for two weeks.
The cargo and parachutes were later recovered by expeditioners off the ice in low light, strong winds and minus 25-degree temperatures.
[Related: C-17A Globemaster III completes Antarctica mission]
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