Defence Business: LEWG clarifies Land 121 Ph 4 path | ADM Feb 2011

Katherine Ziesing | Brisbane

The Land Environment Working Group (LEWG) took the opportunity provided by LWC 2010 to conduct their annual meeting.

As always, the meeting provided a good snapshot of what was happening in the land space in terms of projects, their timelines and the chance to get some face time with the relevant CDG and DMO personnel.

Given that most of the Land 121 Ph 4 Manufactured and Support in Australia (MSA) and Joint Light Tactical Vehicle  (JLTV) contenders were in the exhibition hall, debate over the path that the program is following was helpful.

While many in industry and the media have seen the two paths as a direct competition, both Lieutenant Colonel Warren Jolly, director general of Land Support Development and LEWG chair Brigadier Mal Rerden, were quick to disabuse the audience of the idea.

“The next phase should not be seen as a direct competition,” LTCOL Jolly said.

“We are following two broad paths of understanding out options to give government a better idea with an increased understanding of the business cases on offer.”

As reported in the November edition of ADM, the conflicting timelines for evaluation of the contenders in the two programs could lead to the assumption that they were in competition.

In terms of combat projects, Colonel Steve Saddington reported that the M-777 had its first firing only weeks before LWC and the introduction of the capability was progressing well.

He also spoke of Land 125 Ph 3B where the project office was defining the line between armour and webbing, given the interconnected nature of the two systems.

With more companies increasingly offering more integrated solutions (such as the BAE Systems Integrated Power System and Eclipse armour system, see P118), buying MOTS meant dealing with single company rather than multiple suppliers to ensure interoperability.