Rafael has been awarded a contract with the Israel Defense Forces to supply more than 1,000 Spike LR 2 missiles. Rafael has offered Spike LR 2 as part of the Land 400 Phase 2 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles (CRVs) program.

Bisalloy will develop two new grades of high performance steel at its NSW operations to meet the protection levels required on the Boxer 8x8 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle, which is now under evaluation by the Commonwealth.

Land 200 Tranche 3 will complete deliveries of equipment rolled out under earlier phases to the remainder of Defence and provide technical refresh of equipment previously delivered in Tranche 1 and 2.

The test and evaluation program assessed both the BAE Systems/Patria AMV35 and the Rheinmetall Boxer CRV and their support systems across a wide range of criteria, with a particular focus on protection, lethality and mobility.

Deliveries of 22,000 sets of the Soldier Combat Ensemble (SCE) to the ADF will be completed in the first half of 2018, and several iterative improvements are included in the most recent tranches of the system.

Once regarded as the poor relation in Defence acquisition expenditure, Army is now benefitting, or preparing to benefit, from a series of programs that will dramatically enhance capability in the Land domain.

At the time of writing, the Land 400 program was half way through the risk mitigation activity (RMA) between Rheinmetall’s Boxer and the BAE Systems/Patria AMV35. ADM Editor Katherine Ziesing checked in with the industry players and program director to get an idea of what’s been happening.

A proposal to introduce a multi-role 35mm gun system into the RAN could broaden capabilities and provide potential commonality with the ground-based air defence requirement being sought under Project Land 19 Phase 7B.

With pilot production getting underway later this year at Thales Australia’s Bendigo facility, Army’s Hawkei light protected mobility vehicle (PMV) will soon gain a higher profile.

Since reporting extensively on Land 19 Phase 7 in the March edition of ADM, there is a new factor to consider: Air 6500. Phases 1 and 2 of this RAAF-led program will replace Vigilare and shape the long-range element of air defence for the wider ADF, while Land 19 Phase 7B from Army will look at the short and medium ranges.

General Dynamics Land Systems has revealed that it will propose three vehicles for the Land 400 Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) requirement under Phase 3 of the program.

The tracked Puma Infantry Fighting Vehicle (I) is being offered for land 400 Phase 3 by Projekt Systems Management (PSM), a joint venture between Krauss-Maffei-Wegmann and Rheinmetall Defence established to coordinate the vehicle's development, production, and sales.

BAE Systems Australia unveiled its Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle competitor for Land 400 Phase 2 on June 2, when it presented the AMV35 to industry for the first time in Melbourne, at the beginning of a national tour.

The Boxer Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle is a joint development from Rheinmetall Defence, Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles (RMMV) and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW).

The surprise public unveiling in June of the Rheinmetall Lynx IFV has added a new and potent platform to the Phase 3 lineup

The first Boxer 8x8 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle (CRV) to sport Australian camouflage was a focal point at Rheinmetall Defence's annual Land Forces Symposium in Germany, together with impressive day and night firepower demonstrations and some stimulating insights into the future development of armoured vehicles.