Page 34 - Australian Defence Magazine March 2019

LAND WARFARE
LAND 400
fantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV). At a glance, the Redback is able to carry three crew and eight dismounts and will include the EOS 30mm turret and Remote Weapon Station, Elbit BMS with Spike missile and Iron Fist Light Decoupled active protection system – a configuration that Hanwha says presents no issues in terms of systems integration for them. Hanwha acknowledges that integra- tion challenges, particularly in C4I systems, is a known concern for Army. Their approach was to derisk this through a close collabora- tion with Elbit which would focus heavily on the integration of these systems.
“At the present stage Hanwha intends to submit a response to the Land 400 Phase 3 RFT (and) our proposed solution will be the Redback,” Richard Cho, Managing Di- rector of Hanwha Defense Australia, said to ADM.
The Redback aims to bring together the best of the technologies behind the K9 self- propelled howitzer (Hanwha bought Sam- sung Techwin, the K9 OEM, in December 2014) and K21 vehicles, the backbone of the Republic of South Korean Army. Hanwha’s full Land Combat capability portfolio has manufactured, integrated and sold thou- sands AFVs currently in service between South Korea, Norway, Estonia, India, Tur- key, Poland, Finland and other countries.
The industry and capability story of the K9 in Europe has parallels with what Hanwha is hoping to achieve in Australia should it be successful on Land 400 Phase 3.
“Norway required a 100 per cent offset for their K9 program, to be delivered over the decade in a staged way,” Cho said. “We expect around 40 per cent offsets can be achieved in the first few years, well ahead
A range of contenders for Phase 3 were on show at the Land Forces conference in September last year.
of schedule. The combined training, pro- duction, warehousing and sustainment be- tween these close neighbours of Norway, Finland and Estonia saw a coherent, suc- cessful technology transfer program be- tween South Korea and Europe.”
Cho points out that most of crucial com- ponents in the Redback have been in service with these customers for the better part of two decades, with South Korea able to pro- vide a comprehensive suite of ILS perfor- mance datasets.
Hanwha is looking forward to being able
to show off the capability of the Redback should it be successful in being selected for RMA. Vehicle highlights are:
• STANAG 6 for Kinetic protection
• STANAG 4A/4B for Mineblast protec- tion with the same mine resistant seating system as on the Hawkei PMV
• Integrated Iron Fist Active Protection System
• Proven running gear and engine system from the 48 tonne K9 SPH to maximise growth potential and allow commonality of support with Abrams Main Battle Tank
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34 | March 2019 | www.australiandefence.com.au