12 Mar 18. After months of anticipation, Defence Connect can reveal that Rheinmetall Australia has been selected as the successful tenderer for the hotly-contested LAND 400 Phase 2 program.
Rheinmetall’s bid, comprising of the Boxer CRV, has beaten out BAE Systems Australia AMV-35 offering.
The project, worth up to $5 billion, will see Rheinmetall deliver 225 combat reconnaissance vehicles to the Australian Army.
Under the company’s offering to the Commonwealth, Rheinmetall will build a majority of the vehicles in Queensland. The first 25 vehicles will be built in Germany in a move Rheinmetall says will support the transfer of technology. Australians will be embedded into teams in Germany to learn the necessary skills before transferring back to Australia for the build of the remaining 200 CRVs.
While the first 25 vehicles are being built overseas, Rheinmetall will establish its manufacturing hub, the Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence (MILVEHCOE) in Brisbane.
The MILVEHCOE was announced by Rheinmetall last July and will act as a sovereign industrial capability for the continuous design, manufacture, export and support for military vehicles, turrets and tactical systems.
As a centre of excellence, the MILVEHCOE will be the focal point for the LAND 400 combat vehicles, LAND 121 logistics vehicles and other complex defence projects. Under the LAND 121 Phase 3B program, Rheinmetall is delivering more than 2,500 logistics trucks to the Australian Army.
Rheinmetall has partnered with several Australian SMEs for the project, including Melbourne’s Heuch, Cablex and Tectonica Australia, Burnie-based Direct Edge, Brisbane-based G&O Kert, Melbourne/Brisbane-based Hilton Manufacturing, Perth-based Hoffman Engineering, Melbourne-based Nezkot Precision Tooling and Engineering, Adelaide-based Plasteel and Adelaide-based Redarc.
Rheinmetall has also partnered with BlueScope, which will see the Port Kembla steelworks company deliver thousands of tonnes of feedstock for the LAND 400 Phase 2 project.
Defence Connect hosted Rheinmetall Australia managing director Gary Stewart on the Defence Connect Podcast last week. Tune in to uncover the breadth of Rheinmetall’s Australian operations and objectives, it’s focus on building sovereign industrial capabilities related to military vehicle manufacturing in Australia, why the company believes its Boxer CRV is the right choice for LAND 400 Phase 2, plus other key programs it’s involved in across defence. (Source: Defence Connect)
BATTLESPACE Comment: This announcement cements Boxer into the top league of APCs, ratcheting up another win for Rheinmetall. This win also means that the UK will gain access to the Australian data, which gives another strong pointer to a sole-source UK MIV buy through OCCAR.