Shaping up for the future: Australian Army modernisation · 2016-07-28 · The Australian Army is in the process of being transformed from a largely infantry-based formation to an

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Shaping up for the future: Australian Army modernisation

[Content preview – Subscribe to IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly for full article] The Australian Army is in the process of being transformed from a largely infantry-based

formation to an armoured force flexible enough to tackle both peacekeeping missions and

high-end warfighting. Julian Kerr reports

The Australian Army has embarked on a period of significant modernisation that will recapitalise

the country's land force over the next 15 years.

While projected acquisitions vary from a long-range rocket system to armed light helicopters for

special forces support, the core warfighting capability will centre around a connected, lethal,

deployable, and sustainable armoured force of upgraded main battle tanks (MBTs) and soon-to-be

selected combat reconnaissance and infantry fighting vehicles (CRVs and IFVs).

Nearly AUD9 billion (USD6.57 billion) worth of land force capital investment spread over the

decade to 2025-26 was already approved prior to publication of the 2016 Defence White Paper.

However, it was not until the much-anticipated (and delayed) release in February of this document

and its accompanying Defence Integrated Investment Programme (DIIP) that further capital

investment of up to AUD66 billion in land-related equipment programmes was confirmed, the bulk

of it over the same period.

Tracking the details of that investment in some cases remains a difficult exercise. Unlike the

defence capability plan that it replaced, the 10-year DIIP does not utilise project numbers. The

structure and content of some programmes have also changed, but in ways that are not

immediately apparent.

Much of the funding set out in the DIIP is necessarily provisional, depending as it does on future

circumstances. Recession, increased tension on the Korean Peninsula, or a clash in the South

China Sea could tip the balance quickly in different directions, as could any difficulty on the part of

the Department of Defence (DoD) in spending the money it receives.

Yet the White Paper has received broad bipartisan support, amid general recognition that

neglected land capabilities should not be further delayed or downgraded because of the focus on

costly, high- profile air and maritime requirements.

[Continued in full version…]

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Project Land 400 will see the replacement of the army's ageing fleets of M113AS4 armoured personnel carriers between 2020 and 2025. (ADF)

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However, it is Project Land 400, costed at about AUD10 billion, that will have the greatest impact

on how the Australian Army fights, representing as it does the Australian Defence Force's (ADF's)

largest-ever land systems acquisition programme.

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Australia's ageing ASLAV light armoured vehicles are set to be replaced by a fleet of CRVs under Land 400 Phase 2. (DoD)

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Land 400 Phase 2 will provide 225 CRVs to replace the army's ageing fleet of 257 Australian light

armoured vehicles (ASLAVs). These reach their life of type around 2021.

Under Phase 3, Land 400 will acquire 450 IFVs, backed by 17 manoeuvre support vehicles, to

replace 431 upgraded but obsolescent M113AS4 armoured personnel carriers (APCs) - 140 of

which are in storage and meet the army's mounted close combat requirements.

A Phase 2 request for tender (RfT) closed in September 2015. A downselect had been anticipated

in March 2016 for a minimum of two and a maximum of three of the four 8x8 contenders to

undertake a year of risk management activities followed by a final evaluation, with a contract

award early in 2018. This evaluation phase was extended in April for an undisclosed period,

reportedly for a further review of the contenders' proposals for local manufacture and the extent of

Australian industry content. As of mid-July the shortlist had yet to be announced.

As detailed in the RfT the CRV requires a level of lethality capable of pinning down enemy forces

and neutralising enemy armour, very high levels of operational mobility, and long-range

communications. In the overall evaluation process, protection has a higher priority than lethality,

lethality has a higher priority than mobility, and mobility has a higher priority than sustainability or

C4ISR. Delivery of the first batch of vehicles to training establishments is required by May 2020,

with initial materiel release to cavalry units in July 2021. Final deliveries are set for 2024.

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BAE Systems and Patria have teamed to bid the AMV35, based on the Patria AMV, for Australia's Land 400 Phase 2 requirement. (BAE Systems)

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Competing with the Armoured Modular Vehicle (AMV35) proposed by BAE Systems Australia and

Finland-based Patria are the latest versions of Rheinmetall Defence's Boxer multirole armoured

vehicle, the LAV (CRV) offered by General Dynamics Land Systems and Thales Australia, and the

Terrex 2-based Sentinel II proposed by Elbit Systems teaming with Singapore Technologies

Kinetics.

Although Phase 3 kicked off with a request for information (RfI) that closed in February an RfT is

unlikely until late 2017, with second-pass approval forecast for 2020/21 and entry into service

expected around 2025.


The advantages of commonality between Phase 2 and Phase 3 platforms could lead to an IFV

variant of the Boxer 8x8 advanced as a Phase 3 contender, but in the first instance this would

depend on the type reaching the CRV shortlist.

In terms of the two major ongoing programmes, Land 121 Phase 2B costed at AUD3.46 billion will

deliver approximately 2,700 protected and unprotected medium and heavy trucks, 3,800 modules,

and 1,700 trailers to replace the ADF's Unimog, Mack, and S-liner fleets.

The first 12 trucks from Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles Australia and 70 trailers from local

company Haulmark were handed over to the DoD in April. Deliveries to army units will begin early

in 2017.

The preceding Land 121 Phase 3A is set to complete delivery in late 2016 of 2,146 4x4 and 6x6

unprotected general-duties Mercedes-Benz G-Wagons in a range of variants, making the G-

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Wagon the most numerous vehicles in Australian military service. Some 122 general-maintenance

vehicles will be delivered in 2017.

The G-Wagon programme is part of a larger Vehicle Health and Usage Monitoring (VHUM)

initiative that will also see the Bushmaster protected mobility vehicle (PMV), Abrams MIAI tanks,

and the M113AS4 fleet fitted with data collection systems.

Australia is buying 1,100 Hawkei light-protected vehicles in a deal announced on 5 October 2015. (Thales Australia)

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Final configuration details are meanwhile being agreed for Thales Australia's Hawkei PMV-Light

following the signature in October 2015 of an AUD1.3 billion contract for 1,100 Hawkeis and more

than 1,000 trailers. These will replace unprotected Land Rovers equipping army combat units and

the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF's) airfield defence guards. Pilot production will begin at

Bendigo in Victoria in late 2016 and deliveries will start from late 2017 ahead of full-rate production

in 2018.

The Hawkei contract represents a hard-fought victory by Australian industry against a DoD

mindset initially uninterested in looking beyond the United States in general and the Joint Light

Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) programme in particular. Hawkei's unloaded weight has been kept under

7,000 kg, thus ensuring the vehicle is transportable by a ballistically protected Chinook CH-47F.

This, together with generally high specifications and a kitted monocoque hull that is bolted together

rather than welded for ease of manufacture, repair, and upgrade, has reportedly aroused interest

from a number of defence forces, in particular those with an expeditionary capability.

Synchronised with Plan Beersheba and Land 121, Project Land 200 will provide the army with

digital combat radio systems and integrated BMS - both vehicle-mounted and dismounted to

ensure near real-time information flow between system users across the battlefield.

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In early 2015 Elbit completed deliveries of 2,500 BMS fitted into Bushmaster PMVs (pictured), G-Wagons, and Unimogs, as well as portable units for soldiers, under Project Land 200. (DoD)

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Tranche One was completed in early 2015 and delivered 2,500 Elbit BMS fitted into Bushmasters,

G-Wagons, and Unimogs, as well as portable units for soldiers.


Lt Gen Campbell indicated that the major upgrade anticipated under Project Land 907 Phase 2 is

likely to involve aligning Australia's baseline tank configuration with the US Army's M1A2 systems

enhancement package (SEP) Version 3. Full operational capability is intended by 2025, he said,

thus dovetailing with the new capabilities to be delivered by Land 400 Phases 2 and 3.

The anticipated configuration is understood to improve Abrams' lethality, both from developmental

upgrades and from the addition of mature technologies that include improved colour displays,

power and sights, enhanced forward-looking infrared (FLIR) systems, and a new low-profile

common remotely operated weapon station (CROWS).

Each of the army's three brigades is expected to eventually include three four-tank troops, with two

other Abrams at brigade headquarters supported by a single dozer and armoured bridging

variants. Given the need to retain critical mass and adequate support capability, this structure

could require the acquisition of additional Abrams; this has been recently rumoured but is not

specifically included in the DIIP.

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The new Special Operations Vehicles - Commando being acquired for Australian service are based on the latest version of UK-based Supacat Group's HMT Extenda platform. (DoD)

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Special forces will receive 32 Australian-assembled Special Operations Vehicles - Commando

(SOV-Cdo) in 2016-17, the second tranche of an AUD130 million contract signed in 2014 for 89

high-mobility vehicles based on the latest Mk2 version of UK company Supacat's high-mobility

transporter (HMT) Extenda platform. The vehicles are convertible to either the 4x4 or 6x6

configuration to meet different operational requirements. Final deliveries are expected in 2018.

In the land space, Project Land 19 Phase 7B - ground-based air and missile defence (GBAMD)

enhancements or replacement - is the sole capital project awaiting first-pass approval in the 2016-

17 financial year.


One of several programmes awaiting second-pass approval in 2016-17 includes procurement of a family of future artillery ammunition for the army's M777A2 155 mm lightweight towed howitzers. (DoD)

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Seven land projects await second-pass approval in 2016-17. They include acquisition of a family of

future artillery ammunition for the M777A2 155 mm towed howitzer (Land 17 Phase 1C.2); a small

unmanned aerial system (Land 129 Phase 4); and elements of chemical, biological, radiological,

and nuclear defence (Land 2110 Phase 1B).

An RfP for Land 17 Phase 1 C.2 closed in March and a downselect is expected before the end of

2016. Contenders reportedly include Rheinmetall-Denel Munitions, Orbital ATK Armament

Systems, and Thales Australia.

The preferred tenderer for Land 129 Phase 4 is the AeroVironment RQ-12 Wasp AE small

unmanned aircraft system (UAS) proposed by Australian homeland security specialist XTEK. The

hand-launched Wasp AE weighs 1.3 kg, operates for up to 50 minutes at a range of up to 5 km,

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and delivers live, streaming colour, and infrared video from its pan-tilt-zoom Mantis i22 AE

gimballed payload.

Although second-pass approval is still awaited, testing the system across the broader army has

been under way since June 2015, following an AUD7.7 million trial procurement order placed in

December 2014.

Land 2110 Phase 1B will equip for the first time a significant portion of the ADF with a

comprehensive chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defence (CBRND) capability at an

estimated cost of AUD200-300 million. The scope is understood to be based around a joint

amphibious task group involving an army multirole combat brigade plus elements from Special

Operations Command, a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) amphibious task group, and deployed

RAAF elements. Assuming second-pass approval, first deliveries are anticipated in 2019-20.

Although referred to in the DIIP only in passing, hopes are high that second-pass approval could

also be received shortly for the army's mortar replacement programme, the first RfT for which was

issued in 2006. The programme, costed at less than AUD100 million, will almost certainly replace

the 1960s-era 81 mm mortars with the US M252A1 81 mm system.

Providing a capability that is now eight years behind schedule, first deliveries of General

Dynamics' Mk47 40 mm lightweight automatic grenade launcher fitted with an integrated colour

video and thermal imaging sighting system will begin in late 2016 and be completed in 2017.

Deliveries of 30,000 Enhanced F-88 5.56 mm assault rifles produced by Thales Australia to

replace the ageing original F-88 Austeyr series that entered service with the Australian Army in

1988 will continue.

What is thought to be the last of 19 M777A2 155 mm lightweight towed howitzers ordered in 2012

in addition to the 35 contracted from BAE Systems in 2009 will be delivered under Project Land 17

1C.1 in 2016-17, as will up to 4,000 course correcting fuzes and instrumentation for a Joint Proof

and Experimental Unit.

The same period will see the delivery to army units and various RAN ships under Project Land 125

Phase 3B of a second tranche of enhanced body armour and helmets, individual load carriage

equipment, and hearing protection.

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In June the Australian Army took delivery of an additional three CH-47F Chinooks, boosting the fleet to a total of 10 aircraft. (DoD)

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In the aviation space the army's medium-lift helicopter capability received a major boost with the

arrival in June of three additional Boeing CH-47F Chinooks to join the existing fleet of seven.

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The army's fleet of Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters are planned to be replaced in the mid-2020s with a capability that could include manned and/or unmanned systems. (DoD)

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Shaping up for the future: Australian Army modernisation · 2016-07-28 · The Australian Army is in the process of being transformed from a largely infantry-based formation to an