The contract to provide survivability enhancements and refurbishment to 113 Australian Light Armoured Vehicles (ASLAV), which was awarded to Canadian firm Armatec Survivability Corporation (ASC) and General Dynamics Land Systems - Australia (GDLS-A) in June, will see much of the work being done in country with the support of local players.
Local industry can look forward to involvement in the production of pre-modification and refurbishment work, suspension and drivetrain upgrades, installation of upgrade kits, and the redesign and manufacturing of mine blast belly plates, to be carried out by General Dynamics Land Systems – Australia in Pooraka, South Australia.
These improvements, defence minister Senator John Faulkner said at the contract announcement, would extend the service life of the vehicles and provide increased crew protection against a wide range of threats, including improvised explosive devices (IEDs), landmines, bullets, shrapnel, and explosive blast.
The enhanced-survivability kits represent advanced, composite armour technology developed and produced by Armatec Survivability in Canada.
The premodification, refurbishment, automotive upgrades, and installation of the enhanced-survivability kits will be done by GDLS-A in Adelaide.
The combined value of the project is $302.8 million.
Armour will first be fitted on different variants of the Australian vehicles that will be shipped to Canada.
Based on those designs, kits will then be shipped back to Australia for installation on the vehicles that will serve in Afghanistan.
The 113 vehicles are the first phase and, according to Karl Pfister, president and chief executive of Armatec, “there is the possibility of more”.
“This is just the start. There are a lot of nations sitting on the fence now.”
The contract is the second largest for Armatec.
In 2005, the company had a larger order for the US Marines, but Pfister would not discuss costs.