Julian Kerr | Sydney

Army’s Hawkei 4x4 Protected Mobility Vehicle-Light (PMV-L) has successfully passed crew survivability blast tests, the penultimate step to clearing the way for the start of low rate production later this year.

The tests took place in April at the Joint Proof and Experimental unit at Graytown in Victoria and involved one two-door and one four-door variant of the Hawkei.

“[The] level of protection [is] comparable to that of the Bushmaster”

Sarah Myers, Assistant Secretary Land Vehicle Systems in CASG, declined to disclose the amount and type of explosive involved, but said the objective was to test crew survivability from a “very significant mine blast” representative of current IED threats.

The Hawkei has seating for up to four occupants in the four door variant and up to two occupants in the two-door version.

Both tests had been successful, involving what Myers described as a representative load.

The scalable protection fitout utilises the SMART armour technology developed by Israeli company Plasan. This includes steel alloys, Aramid fibres for internal spall liners, and ceramic ‘beaded’ armour to provide optimal lightweight multi-hit protection from armour-piercing ammunition.

Defence says this provides a level of protection comparable to that of the Bushmaster. This is reportedly similar to the NATO STANAG 4569 Level 3 standard (7.62mm armour-piercing ammunition at 30 metres, eight kilogram anti-tank mine under the centre or any wheel, 155mm artillery high explosive at 60 metres).

Myers said the blast tests and the completion of reliability trials which are now in progress was expected to see construction start towards the end of this on 100 vehicles at Thales Australia’s Bendigo facility, with full production getting underway there in 2018.

Under Project Land 121 Phase 4 Defence is acquiring 1,100 Hawkei along with 1,058 companion trailers at a cost of $1.3 billion. Initial operational capability is scheduled for 2019 and full operational capability is anticipated in 2023.