Page 66 - Australian Defence Magazine June 2021

64 LAND FORCES LAND 400
JUNE 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
CURTISS-WRIGHT PARTNERS WITH AUS SMES ON LAND 400 PH 2
Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division has secured a contract with Rheinmetall Defence Australia to deliver its turret drive stabilisation system in support of the Australian Army’s Project Land 400 Phase 2 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle (CRV). Under the contract, Curtiss-Wright will deliver 133 of its state-of-the-art Turret Drive Servo Systems (TDSS) and associated hand controllers to Rheinmetall.
The delivery incorporates more than 50 per cent Australian Industry Content (AIC), with Curtiss-Wright working alongside a team of Australian SMEs following initial industry engagement activities in 2018 and 2019. The turret drive technology is patented by Curtiss-Wright and unique globally. Under the contract, shipments are scheduled to run through Q1 2026.
“We are very proud that Rheinmetall has selected our turret drive stabilization solution to support the Australian Army’s important Project Land 400 Phase 2 Program,” Lynn Bamford, President, Defense and Power Segments said. “This contract marks a significant CRV design win for our cost-effective, scalable Turret Drive Servo System and our commitment to incorporate local industry partners into this program.”
The products covered by the contract were designed at Curtiss-Wright’s Drive Technology facility in Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Switzerland. Under the contract, Curtiss-Wright will manufacture and produce a significant amount of TDSS Power
Circuit Boards (PCB) and chassis kits in Australia. With this strong commitment to Australian Industry, Curtiss- Wright has applied its state-of-the-art identification and evaluation process to select qualified local suppliers.
Major milestones in support of this agreement have already been achieved, including initial planning visits to Australia, which began in 2018 and continued through Q1 2020, and the first delivery of TDSS sample PCB Boards and Chassis kits to Australia.
In the next phase of the Australian Supplier Partner identification and evaluation process, Curtiss-Wright will assess the parts received, and then enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the selected suppliers in Q2 2020, followed by contract negotiations.
After establishing the contractual baseline set, detailed knowledge transfer will commence, complemented by Curtiss- Wright’s TDSS experts, who will provide on-site support and training directly to the new Australian Supplier Partners at their own sites. On- site support is scheduled to run through Q4 2020. The go-live plan for Series Production with the Australian Supplier Partners is scheduled for Q1 20211.
The final assembly of the products covered by this agreement will take place at Rheinmetall’s new Military Vehicle Center of Excellence (MILVEHCOE) facility in Redbank, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia.
AS21 Redback as a fifth-generation IFV that is highly pro- tected, exceptionally mobile, formidably lethal, and de- veloped specifically to meet Australian requirements and take advantage of the latest technologies.
The Redback’s two-man turret is a development of the proven Elbit MT30 Mk2 turret that fully integrates the Iron Fist active protection system, the Spike LR2 ATGM and onboard training systems (as proven by recent demon- strations and test firings) and the Iron Vision situational awareness system.
The Iron Vision system allows the Redback’s crew to ef- fectively look through the hull as if it isn’t there and is a game changer in operating heavy armoured vehicles in close company with dismounted troops.
The Redback’s Mk44S Bushmaster II 30 mm cannon is capable of firing all natures of the 30mm x 173mm am- munition in service with 19 nations, including advanced munitions such as proximity fused and airburst rounds. The 30mm cannon can be rapidly upgraded to 40mm by exchanging three parts, boosting lethality without the need to modify the turret or cannon.
Rubber tracks reduce noise and vibration that can dam- age sensitive electro-optical systems while saving life-cy- cle and operating costs and providing superior ride quality for the Redback’s three-strong crew and eight dismounts.
The AS21 also benefits from a fully independent inline suspension system that does not require torsion bars, thus supplying more space to achieve exceptionally high levels of blast protection without significant additional weight.
The Redback’s 1,000hp MTU MT881 turbo-charged diesel engine and Alison transmission have been well- proven by thousands of hours of use in the Korean Army’s K21 fleet from which the AS21 has evolved. An incremen- tal improvement program ensures ongoing modifications and adjustments.
If selected the Redback will be constructed at a pur- pose-built facility in Geelong. This facility will also be used by Hanwha to manufacture the K9 155mm self- propelled howitzers and K10 armoured resupply vehicles for the $2 billion Land 8116 Protected Mobility Fires re- quirement for which Hanwha was selected in September 2020. The K9 uses the same engine and transmission as the Redback; Army’s M1A1 Abrams main battle tank uses the same Alison transmission.
OF NOTE
As a footnote, Major General Simon Stewart, Head of Land Capability, told ADM separately (see this month’s From the Source interview for more) that Army has not mandated a specific active protection system for either Phase 2 or Phase 3 of Land 400.
Although Elbit Systems’ Iron Fist Decoupled Light had been used as the exemplar, it had not been mandated.
Subsequently, both of the Phase 3 contenders had of- fered Iron Fist Decoupled Light as part of their tender re- sponse “so we’ve got some more work to do to figure out exactly how that works and exactly what and when we’re going to do that”. ■