Hanwha Defence Australia and Electro Optic Systems (EOS) have announced they have teamed for the Commonwealth’s Project LAND 400 Phase 3 Mounted Close Combat Capability program to replace the Army’s M113 armoured vehicles.
Under the teaming, Hanwha will be the prime contractor and will offer its AS21 Redback Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV), while EOS will be a principal first tier subcontractor by supplying and integrating its new T-2000 optionally-manned turret which the company unveiled on February 27.
“Hanwha’s four decades of experience delivering over 7,000 armoured vehicles has been distilled to create Redback in response to the next-generation requirements of the Australian Army,” President and CEO of Hanwha Defence, Sungsoo Lee said in a statement.
“We believe Redback, in combination with the EOS turret, establishes a new global standard for simultaneously optimising protection, lethality, weight, mobility, price and future growth for a fighting vehicle.”
“Hanwha welcomes EOS as its partner in the development and optimisation of Redback. We expect the new standards we have jointly set to find strong acceptance in the global defence market, and exports from Australia of this vehicle are expected.”
The AS21 Redback is a development of the K21 IFV Hanwha developed for the Republic of Korea Army. Hanwha says the AS21 will offer enhanced survivability against higher threat levels and matching peer enemy armoured fighting vehicles, and will be able to accommodate eight dismounts plus three crew.
The T-2000 turret was launched at the Avalon Airshow on February 27, and was developed in partnership with Israeli company Elbit. It features a 30mm cannon, a 7.62 co-axial machine gun, two anti-armour missiles under armour protection, a high level of armour protection, active protection systems, smoke grenades, and can be manned or unmanned.
“The Redback is an ideal platform for our T-2000 turret because the performance, cost and weight advantages of the turret are fully capitalised when combined with Redback’s advanced design features.” Group CEO of EOS, Dr Ben Greene said.
“This collaboration represents a significant investment for the partners over many years, and the performance advantages of Redback with T-2000 will be exploited in joint marketing campaigns through 2019 and beyond.”