It’s been six years since G-Wagons began rolling out across the Army. 2016 saw the last of 2,146 vehicles delivered to Army to replace two-thirds of the Land Rover fleet under Land 121 Phase 3A (with the remainder to be replaced by Hawkei under Phase 4).
The old Land Rovers are now frequently visible on streets around Australia as the fleet was sold off to the public.
The new G-Wagons (and the accompanying range of Haulmark trailers) have a tough job. Some have been deployed to Fiji for disaster relief and to Hawaii on multi-national exercises, whilst others (the surveillance and reconnaissance variants) negotiate the billabongs and deserts across Australia’s north in service with NORFORCE.
ADM caught up with Chris Holland, senior manager of special vehicles at Mercedes-Benz Australia-Pacific, to talk about the sustainment operations for Army’s new fleet and associated challenges.
“We have a long term 15-year support contract with the Commonwealth to support the vehicles,” Holland said. “That contract provides a range of services – engineering, configuration management, maintenance, and supply.”
The 15-year contract is augmented by three options to extend by seven years each. The fleet is serviced primarily by Mercedes’ commercial dealership network throughout Australia, from which Defence is able to source parts and know-how.
“We also use our dealer network to support the Commonwealth, particularly in the remote parts of Australia to support the RFS units,” Holland said. “Medium-grade repair is normally conducted by the unit. That means everything up to engine transmissions, axle assembly, major unit assembly or replacement.
“They’d draw an engine or an axle, replace that, then send the part through the supply chain to us for an overhaul or repair. Those can also be done at our dealers.”
Vehicles requiring heavy-grade repairs – engine, axle, and transmission overhauls, or accident damage, for example – are sent to Mulgrave in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs, home to the G-wagon support fleet. Diagnostic tools include a commercial off-the-shelf product called BOSCH, which is used to support remote locations, and an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) mandated diagnostic tool called Xentry, which is used in Defence workshops.
Those sustainment arrangements apply to all 10 G-Wagon variants: two carryalls (light and lightweight); panel van; canine; station wagon; command post mobile; ambulance; line laying; surveillance and reconnaissance; and general maintenance.
Whilst there is a training program for local dealers involved in sustaining the G-Wagon fleet, Holland said that many of the parts are commercially available and do not require specialist knowledge.
“There is a training course for commercial dealers. But these are commercial vehicles. The same transmission engines and axle assemblies are used in many other vehicles,” Holland said to ADM. “That means the main components are commercially available and our training system already caters for those.
“The new and unique parts are the Defence-specific components, like the 24-volt charging system, for example. We run a G-wagon course for that.”
The overlap between Army’s G-wagons and commercial vehicles also means that the vehicle is mostly unclassified, keeping the sustainment process relatively simple in terms of security clearances.
“The only time we have an issue is when the radio systems are fitted. The rest of the vehicle is unclassified. Normally Defence removes the radio before it goes to a dealer,” Holland said.
Module support
Where the 10 G-wagon variants differ is in the fitted modules. Those are manufactured by Newcastle-based Varley under a sub-contract that mirrors Mercedes’ arrangement with the Commonwealth.
“They’re contracted to us to provide the same engineering, part supply, configuration to us as we provide to Defence,” Holland said. “We’ve got overall responsibility for module sustainment, and we have a subcontract with Varley to provide that level of support.”
Sustainment arrangements for the modules vary between G-wagon variants according the complexity of the fitted module. Specific components can either be repaired in-situ or sent back to the OEM for an overhaul.
“It depends on the complexity of those modules as to whether they can be repaired locally,” Holland said. “Some are more complex than others – the ambulance is more complex than the cargo module, for example – so it really depends on the complexity of the body.
“In general, those repairs are conducted forward by Varley, or worst-case the module goes back to the OEM. If it’s an air-conditioner, for example, that goes to ED in Brisbane.”
When asked what the differences were between Mercedes’ sustainment arrangements with Defence for the G-wagons and those in place for the old Land Rover fleet, Holland said that the current contract is broader in scope and allows for better engagement between Defence and industry partners.
“I think there’s more engagement. With this particular contract, we have far more responsibility to support Defence across a range of services than was in place with the Land Rover,” Holland said. “The Land Rover was more about direct sales and parts support, whereas we provide engineering services, maintenance support, configuration management, as well as parts support. The relationship is different.
“When the acquisition contract was put in place, Defence was considering sustainment through the life of the vehicle. So that contract was negotiated at the same time.”
A Defence spokesperson did not comment on specific contractual differences; “The support services contracts for the G-Wagon and the Land Rover Fleet are not comparable given the different life cycle stages of the capabilities involved.”
Overseas deployments
So far, G-wagons have been deployed on humanitarian missions, including disaster relief efforts in Fiji and multinational military exercises. They have not yet been deployed on combat operations, meaning there is an argument to be made that the G-wagon fleet suffers from a degree of operational redundancy in a military that has also invested in armoured Hawkei and Bushmaster vehicles.
Whilst G-wagons could theoretically deploy on operations, Army has said their use will be limited to secure environments, with the Hawkei and Bushmaster reserved for hotter situations.
Light-skinned vehicles certainly aren’t suited for use against the ‘weapons of the weak’, particularly IEDs, something the British learned after over 30 soldiers were killed by roadside bombs whilst in Snatch Land Rovers during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The vehicles were soon dubbed ‘mobile coffins’ by troops on the ground.
"You drive over a landmine in a very-lightly armoured Land-Rover Snatch - it's not much different from driving over it in a Ford Escort," Steve McLoughlin, a former member of the Royal Green Jackets who served in Iraq, once said.
According to Army, however, the G-wagons will be used in “in tactical training, disaster relief and securing Australia’s coastline.”
Holland said the same sustainment arrangements are in place no matter where the vehicles are deployed, using Mercedes’ global dealer network.
“The G-wagon fleet is a training fleet. It’s designed for training needs in Australia, peacekeeping and humanitarian operations,” Holland said. “Slightly different to the other vehicles.
“The same arrangements are in place [for vehicles overseas], but we can tap into our network of dealers globally if required to support fleets that have been deployed.”
“G-Wagons deployed overseas are supported through normal Defence supply chain arrangements,” a Defence spokesperson said. “To date, Defence has not encountered any unique challenges in sustaining G-Wagons on operations, such as Operation Fiji Assist.”
Australian conditions
Within Australia, the vehicles facing the harshest operating conditions are those in service with Regional Force Surveillance units, which use the Surveillance and Reconnaissance open-top variant to conduct long-ranging patrols across the north. Those vehicles pose perhaps the greatest sustainment challenge for Defence and Mercedes.
“Those vehicles operate in a much harsher environment,” Holland said. “Whether its dry, dust, or particularly the wet. The vehicle is also different in that it’s an open vehicle, so that adds some challenges as far as climatic conditions and operating environment are concerned.”
To service those vehicles, Mercedes use commercial sub-lets owned by dealerships in major population centres.
“We use dealers and sublets from those dealers across all of the locations where the RFS are located,” Holland said. “That’s from squadron HQ level down to troop level. In the most remote locations – Weipa, Mt Isa, Headland, Newman, Katherine, Alice, Broome, Nhulunbuy – in fact, all of the locations where the G-wagons are based, we have support arrangements in place.
“The dealer is located in Darwin, but that dealer has sublets in those smaller towns to support those vehicles.”
A Defence spokesperson said that the RFS units have forward repair teams that can support sustainment of the vehicles.
“The units are also able to leverage Joint Logistics Command maintenance facilities and, through CASG, Mercedes dealerships and authorised repairer network,” the spokesperson added.
That integrated commercial network allows Mercedes to regularly meet the key performance indicators expected by Defence no matter where G-wagons are deployed.
“The G-Wagon Fleet has not experienced any major unexpected issues in regards to the ongoing support of the capability,” a Defence spokesperson said. “The capability consistently exceeds the Capability Manager’s availability targets.”
“We have KPIs for delivery of services like overhauls of accident damaged vehicles, response times to deliver and collect damaged vehicles – we do that on behalf of Defence,” Holland explained to ADM.
“We have KPIs around the supply of parts. For example, we have a KPI of 10 days to replace a damaged vehicle. That’s delivered, fully functional, to the location. Most of that time frame is taken up by the movement of parts through the supply chain, as opposed to the time it takes to conduct the repair.
“We’ve been hitting that regularly.”
This article first appeared in the October 2018 edition of ADM.