Almost $100 million will be spent to deliver a new three-storey Armoured Vehicle Simulation Centre in the School of Armour at Puckapunyal.
Works are scheduled to start in March this year and will include the modernisation of training support facilities in the wider School of Armour and nine additional workshop bays. Driver training facilities and tactical simulators for the Army’s Armoured Fleet will also be upgraded.
“About 85 per cent of the workforce for the School of Armour upgrade is going to be sourced locally,” Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price said. “The program will also deliver workshops and supporting infrastructure that is designed to be able to maintain the suite of Armoured Fighting Vehicle platforms both now and into the future.”
St Hilliers has been awarded the head contract to deliver the second package as part of the $235 million Fighting Vehicle Facilities Program Stage 1 works, following the announcement of a related package of works at Lavarack Barracks, Townsville.
“Our investment will support the upgraded M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank and incoming Land 400 and Land 8160 vehicle fleets,” Minister Price said. "Training for these next-generation vehicles includes networked, high-fidelity training simulators in new, future-ready training centres.
“This upgrade will modernise the Australian Army’s armoured warfighting capability and their associated training systems.”
Work on the project is expected to finish in late 2022.
The announcement of the funding for the School of Armour at Puckapunyal comes weeks after Minister Price announced ADCO had been awarded the head contract for the construction of a $38.9 million state-of-the-art health and wellbeing centre at Puckapunyal.