• Hawkei undergoing water fording testing. LAND 121 Phase 4 will provide the protected mobility vehicle – light (PMV-L) Hawkei for command, liaison, utility and reconnaissance roles. The PMV-L will provide an optimum balance of the requirements for survivability, mobility, payload, communications, useability and sustainability. Credit: Defence
    Hawkei undergoing water fording testing. LAND 121 Phase 4 will provide the protected mobility vehicle – light (PMV-L) Hawkei for command, liaison, utility and reconnaissance roles. The PMV-L will provide an optimum balance of the requirements for survivability, mobility, payload, communications, useability and sustainability. Credit: Defence
Close×

Australian built Hawkei gets the nod for $1.3 billion contract

6 October 2015
Comments Comments

The Australian Government will purchase 1100 locally built Hawkei protected vehicles and over 1000 trailers to strengthen the ADF under a $1.3 billion agreement.

The vehicles will be manufactured at Thales Australia’s production line in Bendigo, creating 170 jobs there and another 60 jobs in Victoria, according to Minister for Defence Senator Marise Payne and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who issued a joint statement.

They said the Hawkei will improve protection for soldiers and enable them to operate in high-risk areas and it is the only protected mobility vehicle in the ADF that can be transported by ADF helicopters.

Chris Jenkins CEO Thales Australia said Hawkei was a highly capable vehicle that would serve the ADF for many years to come and he thanked the local and offshore suppliers that had contributed towards the development of the vehicle.

"It’s a great story about what Australian industry and international partnerships can achieve. As we move into the manufacturing phase, we will now be able to consolidate the work already begun across the Thales group worldwide to ensure the export success of this impressive vehicle,” Jenkins said.
 
The vehicles will also pioneer a next generation communications management system to be developed in Australia by Thales.

The Project LAND 121 Phase 4 contract to deliver the vehicles was signed on Monday 5 October at Defence’s Monegeetta Proving Ground near Melbourne.

Since 2004, the Thales assembly line has been producing the Bushmaster, which has been praised for its lifesaving abilities as a protected mobility vehicle.

As Bushmaster production winds down, the start of pilot vehicle production in early 2016 will secure the highly skilled Bendigo workforce for full-rate production of the Hawkei in 2018.

comments powered by Disqus