Hanwha wins Australian infantry vehicle deal

Korean defense company Hanwha Aerospace beat Germany's Rheinmetall to win a multi-billion-dollar contract to build 129 new AS-21 Redback infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) for the Australian Army, Canberra announced Thursday.

The AS-21 Redback, an infantry fighting vehicle developed by Korean defense company Hanwha Aerospace, won the contract for the Australian Army's Land 400 Phase 3 project, according to Canberra's defense industry minister on Thursday. [HANWHA AEROSPACE]

Korean defense company Hanwha Aerospace beat Germany’s Rheinmetall to win a multi-billion-dollar contract to build 129 new AS-21 Redback infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) for the Australian Army, Canberra announced Thursday.

The deal is one of the largest projects in the history of the Australian Army and is estimated to cost between 5 billion and 7 billion Australian dollars ($3.4 billion to $4.7 billion), according to Australian Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy.

It will also be Australia’s largest defense deal with an Asian country.

“The state-of-the-art vehicles will come with the latest generation armor, cannon and missiles, providing the protection, mobility and firepower needed by soldiers in close combat,” Conroy told reporters.

The Australian cabinet’s decision to select Hanwha’s Redback IFV over Rheinmetall’s Lynx KF41 capped almost four years of bidding and extensive trials by Hanwha as part of the Australian Army’s Land 400 Phase 3 project to acquire a replacement for Canberra’s aging M113 armored personnel carriers, which first entered service in 1964.

The new vehicles will be built at Hanwha’s production facilities in Geelong in the southern Australian state of Victoria, where Hanwha is building a new factory near Avalon Airport.

Hanwha has also committed to building 30 K-9 self-propelled howitzers and 15 K-10 armored ammunition resupply vehicles in Geelong under the terms of a separate contract worth 933 billion won ($733 million) in December 2021.

But the Australian contract is not as large as initially expected after the projected number of IFVs to be built was reduced from 450, following the recommendations of the Defense Strategic Review undertaken by the government of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

The review recommended a drastic realignment of Australia’s military in response to rising regional threats and fast-tracked the purchase of land-based missiles while slashing the IFV project.

The review also led to the cancellation of the second phase of the howitzer project, halving the number of self-propelled howitzers to be built by Hanwha from 60 to 30, while also reducing the number of ammunition resupply vehicles from 30 to 15.

But the Redback contract signals deeper defense industry cooperation between Korea and Australia as the latter seeks to strengthen ties with regional partners and upgrade its defense capabilities amid rising tensions in the Pacific, where China is looking to increase its influence.

Conroy said the government will speed up the procurement process so that the first Redback will be delivered to the Australian Army in early 2027, two years earlier than planned, and the final vehicle by 2028.

Hanwha Aerospace’s AS-21 Redback is a fifth-generation infantry fighting vehicle equipped with a Mk44S Bushmaster II 30-millimeter chain gun as its main armament, which can be upgraded to a 40-millimeter variant if necessary. The vehicle also has a 7.62-millimeter coaxially mounted machine gun.

The Redback also comes with blast mitigation systems to protect against mines and improvised explosive devices.

The vehicle's protective armor is made by Plasan, an Israeli vehicle manufacturer, while another Israeli company, Elbit Systems, provided the vehicle with its Iron Vision system, which provides the Redback's crew with 360-degree situational awareness through a head-mounted display.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]