Page 85 - Australian Defence Magazine Sep-Oct 2022

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
LAND WARFARE PROTECTED MOBILE FIRES 85
ALTOGETHER, Army is acquiring 30 AS9s, a 155mm SPH based on the Korean K9 Thunder, and 15 AS10 armoured ammunition resupply vehicles (AARV, based on the K10) under Defence’s Land 8116 Phase 1 (Protected Mobile Fires) program.
According to Defence’s 2020 Force Structure Plan (FSP), Land 8116 is valued between $900 million and $1.3 billion out to 2030 and the currently agreed timeline calls for acquisition in several batches between 2025 and 2027. The AS9/AS10 capability will in some respects replace and in some respects supplement Army’s current fleet of towed M777A2 howitzers – some of which have recently been gifted to Ukraine.
Land 8116 will transform Army’s long range fires capa- bility, but it also promises to transform Australian defence industry, as Hanwha sees Australia as an important strate- gic supplier to its supply chains in the Republic of Korea and to its export markets around the globe. Furthermore, future cooperation between the Australian and Korean governments could very well see the development of future technologies, including even a fully autonomous version of the AS10/K10 AARV.
LAND 8116 GENESIS
While it’s no secret that Army has long-coveted a self-pro- pelled artillery capability – it even ran a competition (Land 17 Phase 1C) a decade or so ago, which ironically selected the K9, then known as the Aussie Thunder, Land 8116 only gained serious traction during the 2019 election campaign.
Despite there being no reference to a self-propelled how- itzer in the 2016 Defence White Paper, then Prime Min- ister Scott Morrison surprised many when he announced that if re-elected the Coalition would purchase 30 AS9s and 15 AS10s and build them in the Geelong region.
In answer to ADM’s questions last year, a Defence spokes- person explained that the tracked mobility, protection and fire- power capability offered by the AS9/AS10 system will allow the Joint Force to operate in future high-intensity conflicts. As such it would combine with Army’s Abrams M1A2 tanks, wheeled Boxer Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles (CRV) and tracked In- fantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) and supported by M777A2 guns.
ABOVE: The Republic of Korea Army is a major user of the K9 Thunder SPH
HANWHA