Page 34 - Australian Defence Magazine June 2019

PROJECT
LAND
Vehicle programs
Managing the bumps on the road
EWEN LEVICK | SYDNEY
Four months ago, the forecast was sunny for Land programs scheduled to reach Initial Operating Capability (IOC) in 2019. Phases 3B and 4 of the Land 121 program were set to deliver thousands of new trucks, trailers, and Hawkei protected mobility vehicles to the ADF in December.
34 | June 2019 | www.australiandefence.com.au
A FEW clouds, however, have since blown in. Whilst Phase 3B chugs along nicely, on-going reliability issues on the Hawkei vehicles, which last year were the subject of a controversially redacted ANAO report, were compounded by the failure of main en- gine supplier Steyr Motors in February. IOC for Phase 4 has been pushed back into 2020 as a result, although final operating capabil- ity (FOC) is set to be declared as scheduled.
“For 121 3B, IOC will look like the abil- ity to deploy a protected battlegroup,” Head Land Systems Major General Andrew Bot- trell explained to ADM. “So that’s around 100 medium-heavyweight trucks in three configurations; the integrated load han- dling system, the heavy recovery vehicle, and the truck-tractor, as well as all the bulk liquid storage and maintenance modules.”
“For Phase 4, IOC will incorporate 138 mis- sion systems, vehicles and trailers, plus their through-life support, passing a battlegroup op- erational test and evaluation activity.”
The Hawkei is developmental and that means risk. But they are being managed by both Thales and Defence.
DEFENCE