Page 48 - Australian Defence Mag Sep 2020

48 LAND WARFARE LAND 400 PHASE 3
SEPTEMBER 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
is set to be Rheinmetall’s biggest facility outside Germany and represents the largest single infrastructure investment to be made by the company in its 131-year history.
The first MILVEHCOE line will complete delivery to the ADF through to 2024 of already-contracted 1,044 heavy and medium Rheinmetall high mobility logistics vehicles, the second line will begin Boxer CRV pro-
While the Redback in some respects was derived from South Korea’s in-service K-21 it was larger, heavier, more survivable and more lethal in order to combat recent ad- vances in Russian armoured vehicles and was targeted ini- tially towards the Five-Eyes nations – Australia, the US, UK, Canada and NZ.
duction in late 2022, and the third will man- ufacture the Lynx KF41 should it be selected for Phase 3.
In line with HDA’s intention to substan- tially expand its international profile by the mid-2020s, the company has undertaken to work with Australian industry to establish a self-reliant manufacturing base for the Red- back at Geelong.
“THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY CAPABILITY APPROACH WILL PLAY A SIGNIFICANT ROLE ALONGSIDE THE LIFECYCLE COST OF THE PLATFORM AND ITS ASSOCIATED SYSTEMS.”
“The similarity of the requirements arising from different nations, includ- ing South Korea, is driving the design aspects of the Redback. The Australian programme is one of the first off the rank in the Five-Eyes nations and it’s setting a new benchmark for next-generation IFV systems,” Cho stated.
“This is really about not only delivering a platform such as Redback, it’s more about how we integrate a joint fires capability in a networked system of systems for today’s armed forces.”
This facility will also be used to manu-
facture Hanwha’s K9 155mm self-propelled
howitzer along with K10 armoured resupply
vehicles should they be selected, as seems
likely, for the Land 8116 Protected Mobility
Fires Requirement. An acquisition and sustainment strat- egy for 30 K9s and 15 K10s will be considered by govern- ment later this year, Defence says.
Gary Stewart, CEO of RDA, told ADM that the Lynx KF41 was not intended to be a well-armed transport but a true tactical partner of the
infantry section across all combat scenarios.
The rapid change of combat mode was a characteristic
of mechanised infantry and modern IFVs, and Lynx; could be configured for differing threat environments, from a low ground pressure IFV with armour for peacekeeping, to counterinsurgency operations and conventional mounted combat operations against a battlefield peer.
“This inherent flexibility offered by Lynx K41 enables Rheinmetall to meet requirements set down for a number
“We’re the new kid on the block; what’s little understood in Australia is that Hanwha has manufactured and deliv- ered more than 7,000 armoured vehicles ranging from IFVs and amphibious assault vehicles to self-propelled guns,” HDA Managing Director Richard Cho told ADM.
“As a corporate, we’re also probably South Korea’s sec- ond-largest importer of Australian goods.”
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