The first tangible evidence that the 2,500 protected and unprotected medium and heavy trucks contracted for the ADF under the painfully protracted progress of Project Land 121 Phase 3B are on their way to Australia will appear in mid-2015 with the arrival of a number of vehicles for verification purposes.

Defence’s previous attempt to acquire a Lightweight Automatic Grenade Launcher system soured after extended contract negotiations with the preferred tenderer were terminated. Now seven years later, there’s a hurry-on to acquire even more of them.

Army’s provisional design acceptance of Thales Australia’s F90 assault rifle and integrated grenade launcher means Second Pass approval is on track for June 2015.

The Commonwealth Government is facing important decisions on the most ambitious procurement program for the Australian Army, Land 400 - the choice of future combat vehicles to carry our troops safely in, through and out of battle zones.

Uncertainty over the future of munitions and propellant manufacture in Australian has been compounded by delay and lack of government direction. Unions, Industry and Departmental stakeholders are all concerned with the lack of government responsiveness.

Although the ADF’s UAV operations in Afghanistan were officially completed at the end of June, upgrades are in the pipeline for Army’s 18 Shadow RQ-7B Shadow 200 Tactical UAVs (TUAVs) and options for palm-sized micro-UAVs to equip infantry combat teams are being assessed.

The next Defence Capability Plan, due to be released towards the middle of 2015 is expected to shed light on the future ground based air defence (GBAD) capability requirements of the ADF.

Late last year Harris delivered the 10,000th digital tactical radio under Phase 2A of JP2072 and now there are more digital radios in the fleet than legacy radios.

South Australia and Victoria are competing to house the $10 billion Land 400 military vehicle production program, and are understandably spruiking their suitability to prime contractors and defence.

How will soon-to-be-selected land combat vehicles, designed for today’s concepts of conventional war, fare against extreme future warfare threats, which have yet to be determined? That’s the problem.

A satisfactory outcome to the risk reduction activity now underway on Hawkei prototypes may see a Request for Tender (RFT) for the Manufactured and Supported in Australia (MSA) option of Land 121 Phase 4 issued to Thales Australia later this year.

If size and experience are important, the Alliant Techsystems-NIOA bid for the manufacture and supply to the ADF of domestically-produced munitions, explosives and propellants will receive careful consideration – but not just yet.

With the ADF’s combat role in Afghanistan at an end and Army’s force preparation now focused on contingencies rather than current operations, fresh emphasis has been placed on the development of amphibious capability.

The inaugural ADM Northern Australia Defence Summit in late October 2013 attracted 140 registered delegates and representatives from across Defence, government and industry.

Land 155 Phase 1 is seeking to procure Military Off The Shelf (MOTS) combat bridges to provide Land Forces with the ability to cross a range of wet and dry gaps in support of combat operations, including the capability to tackle complex physical terrain features such as rivers, ravines and other natural and man made gaps.

“In 2012, therefore, we look at the high probability that operational tempo will decline in the next few years and that we could relive the ‘great peace’ of 1972 to 1990,” General David Hurley, AC, DSC, Chief of the Defence Force said. “These changes will bring new challenges to the ADF, challenges compounded by the increasing pace of change in our neighbourhood and the budgetary constraints that we face.”