Electro Optic Systems (EOS), has been awarded a $94 million contract to supply 251 Remote Weapon Stations to increase the lethality of the ADF’s protected mobility vehicles.
“EOS will introduce a new-generation Remote Weapon Station capability to equip the Bushmaster and Hawkei protected mobility vehicles within a Battle Group,” Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds said.
“This capability will improve targeting, and better protect our ADF personnel while on operations.”
“This contract is an important step towards increasing the protection that the PMV fleet can provide during operations, while having standardised equipment, and supporting an Australian defence company and its supply chain," Stelios Kanavakis, a Defense Analyst at GlobalData, said. "[These vehicles] would be among the first to be deployed overseas in a contingency, waiting for heavier platforms to arrive at a later stage. Therefore, it is important for these vehicles to feature firepower capabilities and provide protection to themselves or the dismounted troops."
“The project draws on Australian-owned and developed intellectual property, with more than 80 per cent of the parts sourced through the EOS’ Australian supply chain of more than 140 Australian companies,” Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price said.
“This will help to deliver ongoing certainty for the EOS workforce in engineering and support, and certainty for EOS’ national supply chain.”
This work with EOS forms part of the Standardisation of Protected Mobility Vehicles Fleet program within the 2020 Force Structure Plan.
Delivery of the new capability is expected to occur from December 2020 to December 2021.