Page 34 - Australian Defence Magazine July 2019
P. 34

WEAPONS
SP GUNS
“The recent announcement by the gov- ernment to revisit SPH capability also pro- vides additional opportunity for Hanwha to work closely with the industry base in Geelong to deliver capabilities for the ADF,” Lee added.
A spokesperson for Rheinmetall Defence said that the company did not have a com- ment on the SPH project at this time.
Defence’s response
Did the SPH promise have its origins in a re-emerging Army requirement, an indus- try offer, or was it a last ditch attempt by the coalition government to cling to power? The answer to that is unfortunately not yet clear.
ADM’s detailed questions to Defence for clarification and further detail, includ- ing detail as innocuous as the project num- ber, elicited the following response from a nameless and faceless ‘Defence Spokesper- son’, and is reported here in full:
“The Government is committed to a pro- gram to acquire self-propelled artillery,” the spokesperson said. “As the Minister for Defence has outlined, this program will
The Redback is the Hanwha offering for Land 400 Phase 3 which would also be built
in Geelong if successful.
significantly improve the force protection capability of the Army, giving the ability to rapidly engage land targets at long ranges with a high degree of precision, to neutral- ise threats before they can deliver lethal ef- fects on friendly forces.
“Defence is working on options to imple- ment this commitment and will provide ad- vice to the Government for consideration.”
Even at the Land Environment Working
Group (LEWG) meeting last month, Head of Land Capability Major General Kath- ryn Toohey was quick to point out, as she opened the proceedings, that neither she or her division would be answering questions on the topic until they had received further guidance from government.
As the saying goes, “time will tell”, but it would appear Army is indeed a big winner from the recent election campaign.
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CAPTURE TOMORROW
34 | July 2019 | www.australiandefence.com.au


































































































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