Page 81 - Australian Defence Magazine October 2021

OCTOBER 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
FROM THE SOURCE RICHARD CHO 81
while now and we will be in a position to make a formal announcement soon.
In the meantime, planning for the facility has been pro- ceeding quickly. We have mapped the user requirements and progressed the design as far as we can without having quite finalised which site it will occupy. But I can confirm it will be in the Geelong area. The design encompasses room for expansion and for extensive co-location of other mem- bers of our supply chain where that would make sense to do so. We are also planning to establish a number of capa- bilities there that will be of broader use across defence and possibly other industries. We see our facility as an enabler for Australian industry whereby we will have the requisite infrastructure to support future sovereign capability, such as the Commonwealth’s Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance initiative. We are constantly thinking about the future. Hanwha will be ready to commence production at our new facility in time to meet any and all of our contrac- tual obligations.
ADM: Do you see any applicability in Australia for Hanwha’s unmanned ground vehicle range?
CHO: We displayed one of our UGS products at the recent Land Forces conference and our portfolio of unmanned ground vehicles is large, diverse and sophisticated. I think the technology and capabilities involved will be applicable in different ways in many defence forces around the world. It is also important to understand that Hanwha is central to much of the Korean defence modernisation that is currently underway. We are watching closely as Australia develops its requirements in this area and we will certainly be offering unmanned solutions to the Commonwealth when their re- quirements are fully developed. Yet we are working to move beyond the current thinking in terms of the application of unmanned technology to land forces. Hanwha is a leader in the emerging Urban Air Mobility set of technologies and we see this technology being applied to such things as battle- field re-supply and evacuation. This is where we want to work with the Commonwealth to make these things a reality. ■
A Redback Infantry Fighting Vehicle conducting Land 400/3 user evaluation trials at Puckapunyal.
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