Page 76 - Australian Defence Magazine October 2021

76 FROM THE SOURCE RICHARD CHO
OCTOBER 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 75
as is the ammunition. The powerpack and transmission are widely available regionally and are present on several of the ADF’s current platforms; and the embedded training sys- tem will allow individual crews to train using the digital maps of the areas they will deploy to.
Networked Interoperability amongst allied nations in the Indo Pacific region is sadly lacking. Hanwha is seeking to improve on this through commonality of parts and common logistic support capabilities within the region amongst al- lied nations.
looking at the manufacturing story. We intend for Austra- lian companies to also export components to Korea as part of any future work. For instance, HIFraser, an Australian company, will produce the Automated Fire Suppression Systems for our Huntsman vehicle, supplying a portion of the system components back to Korea for fitment into oth- er Hanwha vehicles. We are working hard to do this with other members of our emerging Australian supply chain.
ADM: Will the defence programs in Australia offer oppor- tunities for Australian SMEs in Hanwha’s civil portfolio? CHO: Initially, opportunities for SMEs with Hanwha in Aus- tralia will centre on defence, just as Hanwha’s early focus is on
Supply chains and fast and efficient ac- cess to operationally urgent parts and spares will be critical in any regional security situ- ation, which is why Hanwha is determined to create a self-sufficient and reliable lo- cal support mechanism. Waiting weeks or months for something to be shipped from a single supplier thousands of miles away may not provide the ADF with the responsive- ness it needs.
“OUR POLICY FOR ENGAGEMENT WITH AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY IS SIMPLE – LISTEN AND PROVIDE HONEST, TRANSPARENT AND CONSTRUCTIVE ADVICE”
defence programs. There will be opportunities for SMEs in Hanwha’s Australian supply chain, opportunities to enter Hanwha’s Korean supply chain, as we have already seen with HI Fraser, and opportunities to enter Hanwha’s interna- tional supply chain via both those paths.
Longer term it is our intention to expand the operations of Hanwha Corporation in Austra- lia, and that will mean a much greater presence in mining, renewable energy and the other products the larger Hanwha group produces. That will open up opportunities to many busi- nesses in Australia including the SMEs already in our various defence supply chains.
ADM: What is the split of manufacturing
between South Korea and Australia on
Redback and Huntsman?
CHO: Hanwha will do as much work in Australia as is pos- sible. Some vehicles will be manufactured in Korea in order to facilitate training of the workforce, transfer of IP and the opportunity for both Korean and Australian compa- nies to work through any issues as they emerge. The exact number of vehicles this will involve has yet to be finalised with the Commonwealth. This is, however, only one way of
As I have already stated, we have entered into a research framework with Deakin University, but what is not as well known is that this also covers a whole range of civil
ABOVE: The AS9 Huntsman is based on Hanwha’s K9 self-propelled howitzer.
HANWHA DEFENSE AUSTRALIA