Page 27 - Australian Defence Magazine Oct 2020

OCTOBER 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
SUPPLY CHAIN LAND 400 27
from the mission module equipment of the Boxers to guar- antee highest levels of commonality for users worldwide.”
A number of elements for Lynx have been developed and manufactured in Australia. Albury-based Milspec, for ex- ample, was originally responsible for a number of fabricated sub-systems for Land 121 Phases 3B and 5B, including roof frames, gunner stands, wire cutters, stowage boxes, signs, brackets and interior components for each vehicle’s Command Control Communications Computers and Intelligence sys- tems. The windfall from those contracts allowed the company to develop a permanent magnet water-cooled alternator that is now being supplied for the Lynx under Land 400 Phase 3.
PARTNERSHIPS
Meanwhile, running gear and other components have been designed and manufactured by Adelaide-based Supashock and its supply chain of over 40 individual companies for the running gear components.
“Supashock has designed and developed an operationally flexible suspension system for the Lynx,” Oscar Fiorinotto, Supashock’s Managing Director, said to ADM. “The de- sign, simulation, internal rig testing and manufacture has taken place at Supashock’s dedicated engineering test and manufacturing facilities in Adelaide, while extensive vehi- cle testing has taken place at Rheinmetall’s Trier proving
ground in southwest Germany. The suspension technology [we’ve] installed in the Lynx has been successfully applied to a range of other vehicles and incorporates more than a decade of design and development.”
The base technology used in the Shock Absorber itself has successfully undertaken German Army endurance testing.
“Supashock engineers have applied this data to the Lynx suspension system with Rheinmetall engineers testing in Trier in a number of different vehicle test track scenarios,” Fiorinotto said. “Supashock engineers continued to fine tune the shock absorber after calibrating settings that re- sulted in the optimum vehicle performance.
“The suspension performance and durability has been de- signed to cater for varying vehicle configurations and has been proven to be reliable and have excellent performance in ride quality, pitch, heave and roll control with low noise vibration harshness across all terrains, with good thermal stability.”
Supashock has also developed an advanced hydraulic bump stop on the Lynx, which prevents damage to critical components in the running gear, as well as the Anti-Tank Guided Missile Launcher with a drop-in mission pod hid- den in the Lance turret.
“Previous generations of ATGM mission pods are bolt-on, typically increasing vehicle width, and making them diffi- cult to protect,” Fiorinotto said. “Supashock has developed
EXPEDITIONARY METAL 3D PRINTING
“PULLQUOTE.”
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