Katherine Ziesing | Canberra
With responses to the first phase of Land 400 under Phase 2 in the box, the following Phase 3 Mounted Close Combat Capability RFI was released on November 13.
The covering letter outlines the following:
- price and availability of both the infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) and manoeuvre support vehicle (MSV)
- ideally the Commonwealth is seeking a tracked and turreted IFV with protection levels similar to that of the Abrams tank while carrying an eight person section.
- as an RFI all associated costs are borne by participants and not the Commonwealth.
- all estimates are to be based upon 450 vehicles under the Basis of Provisioning numbers outlined for the array of variants and suitable subsystems.
- the RFI is also looking for production rates for both home and Australian markets.
An industry briefing is scheduled for Nov 27 in Canberra with responses due on February 22.