Army’s biggest current program under the various phases of
Land 121 Overlander is a mixed bag in terms of where the various phases stand.
Phase 3 has been split into Alpha of G-Wagon with trailers and modules; and
Bravo with medium-weight, medium, and heavy (4x4, 6x6, 8x8 respectively)
trucks, an array of varied tractors and semitrailers, recovery trucks,
integrated load handling systems, bulk liquid fuel and water and a range of
modules that now are supplemented by Phase 5 vehicles. Phase 4 with the Hawkei
continues testing.
When it comes to Phase 3A, delivery has begun and continues
apace.
“That part of the project is going particularly well,”
Brigadier Nagy Sorial, Director General Combined Arms Fighting System (CAFS,
which includes the Land 400 program) and Director General Land Vehicle Systems
(LVS, which includes the Land 121 Program) said. “The G-Wagon reflects about 30
years in advances of technology since the Land Rover fleet was introduced in
the late ‘80s. The low-level rollout started in 2011 but really hit its straps
in July of last year when the deliveries of the G-Wagons and trailers for the
7th Brigade in Brisbane commenced.
“We’re delivering aAbout 60 vehicles and 30 trailers are
being delivered per month and that will continue until mid 2016. As at the end
of 2012, we had delivered 338 G-Wagons and 181 trailers and they’ve been
delivered to the units.”
There are also a surveillance and reconnaissance variant, an
ambulance variant and command post mobile variants. They are going through their
final sort of design phases this year and the roll- out of those will begin in
the next few years. Training for drivers has begun at the Operator Training
Facility at RAAF Base Amberley which then Minister for Defence Materiel Jason
Clare opened in October last year.
A similar permanent facility for maintainer training is due
to open later this year in Bandiana, Victoria.
“Phase 3A is on track, meeting all of the financial
milestones at the right time at the right cost in accordance with the agreed
contracts,” BRIG Sorial told ADM. “There have been no unresolvable issues with
any budget, either from the contractor end or the Commonwealth end. It’s a good
news story, there’s not actually much to say about it other than it’s on track
as contracted.
“The Army’s is really happy with it. From a contracting
point of view DMO is really happy with it and all of the feedback that we have
received we’ve got from Mercedes-Benz, Haulmark and the other subcontractors is that
they are all very happy that it’s all on track and working.”
Phase 3B
In December 2011, the Government announced that Rheinmetall
MAN Military Vehicles Australia (RMMVA) was the preferred tenderer for
medium-heavy vehicles, and Haulmark was the preferred supplier for trailers.
This segment of Land 121 has a long and complicated history that ADM has
covered in great detail in previous editions. Search for Land 121 at ADM online
www.australiandefence.com.au for more on this program.
According to BRIG Sorial, the program office began the Offer
Definition Activity (ODA) in April last year which ran through until September.
October 2012 saw the commencement of contract negotiations.
When ADM spoke to senior RMMVA sources, the perspective was
slightly different. The negotiations haven’t commenced per se as the design and
thus engineering elements are still being bedded down. The RMMVA team for Land
121 Ph3B is now larger than its UK counterpart program for 7,000 vehicles and
it is still in the ‘bid-phase’.
It should be noted however, that while the UK acquired
greater vehicle numbers their required materiel solution was far simpler,
choosing to install necessary communications and technical equipment after vehicle
delivery. But more people doesn’t always equal a quicker outcome or
productivity gains. ADM understands that many of these people are coming from
the German parent company rather than drawing on local expertise and industry.
The trade-offs between meeting Australian standards and
military standards may also become an issue. The constant trade-offs that the
vehicle program faces are well known. Speed, protection, agility,
maintainability and many other factors all need to be accounted for and
prioritised.
Negotiations on these trade-offs will shape the outcome that
users will have to live with for a long time, according to RMMVA sources. This
is the first time the DMO has utilised its new negotiation unit as announced by
Defence Minister Smith in October last year. Given the mountains of paperwork
that the program has generated over the last few years, an outside negotiation
team has a lot of material to consider before even coming to the table.
“Land 121 Phase 3B today remains an extremely robust and
deliverable program,” a RMMVA spokesperson said.
BRIG Sorial is optimistic that an outcome from the
negotiations will be considered by government by mid 2013.
Comments from CEO of the DMO Warren King at Senate
Estimates, however, last month were less than optimistic as the program still
faced a ‘number of issues’ in the negotiation phase.
“There are a number of them [issues], but obviously it is a
sensitive matter because we are still negotiating,” King told the committee.
“It is actually an area where we are using an experienced lead negotiator to
assist us. But the issues relate to a number of matters over intellectual
property, cost changes and project management.
“I cannot and will not enter into a contract with that
company under the present state of negotiations, because of significant
failings of the negotiation process. There are aspects of the negotiation which
sit, in my opinion, outside the tendered offer.”
“I have to balance off all [the issues], but I will not
leave an inheritance or a legacy for my successors because I tried to balance
up these things against a fundamentally flawed position that we find ourselves
in at the moment. That can be corrected very quickly and should that happen, we
would be delighted to enter into a contract.”
Phase 4
Thales Australia is contracted to deliver six Hawkei
prototype vehicles and one trailer prototype under stage 2 of the Manufactured
and Supported in Australia Option (MSA) Phase 4 of Land 121 under a $38 million
contract.
Under this contract the progress towards a suitable
production ready Hawkei will be measured through a series of milestones to
successfully demonstrate the maturing design of the vehicle through those
milestones. On 13 December last year Thales delivered the first Hawkei
prototype vehicle and trailer prototype to Defence.
“The next Hawkei prototype was scheduled for delivery on 25
February, and that’s on track,” BRIG Sorial confirmed to ADM. “With the vehicle
and trailer that they delivered to us in December 2012, this was a utility
variant and a trailer which will also be tested in and around the Land Engineering
Agency test site out at Monegeetta, Victoria. Testing is underway, and as the
next four prototypes are delivered in the coming months, they too will go into
that same testing process.”
The program includes communications system integration
testing, reliability growth trials, survivability testing and user assessments.
Most of those tests will be conducted at Monegeetta, but most of the testing is
at a number of other Defence sites, primarily in Victoria.
“If Thales is successful in developing a suitable vehicle at
an affordable cost under Stage 2 of the contract, then Defence will put a
proposal to government on the merits of buying the Hawkei vehicles for Land 121
Phase 4 to meet protected mobility vehicle light requirements,” BRIG Sorial
said.
“The Hawkei is progressing well,” according to Paul Harris,
Thales Australia’s director of strategy, sales and marketing for the Protected
Vehicles division. “It is an Australian product designed specifically for
demanding Australian requirements beyond that of other programs, and Thales
continues to deliver to schedule.
“The Hawkei’s blend of mobility, class-leading protection,
large payload and six-passenger capacity all within a CH-47 deployable lift
configuration with a scalable (install in the field in less than 30 minutes)
applique armour system will give the ADF a competitive advantage and serve its
maritime strategy and amphibious aspirations well.
“Hawkei’s C4I capabilities will also support Army’s
ambitions for a highly networked battlefield organisation in preparation for
the Combined Arms Fighting System program – Land 400, and we are already
working closely with the relevant suppliers to support the ongoing rollout of
C4I systems in Bushmaster.”
Thales is looking to apply the lessons learned from its
Bushmaster experience (production, sustainment and upgrades) to the Hawkei.
Thales has teamed with Plasan for its armoured solutions, Boeing Australia for
logistics, and PAC Group for its industrialisation capabilities.
JLTV?
While the government has decided to pursue the MSA option,
the US’ Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program remains of interest to the
Commonwealth.
“If Thales is successful in developing a suitable vehicle at
an affordable cost under Stage 2 of the contract, then Defence will put a
proposal to government on the merits of buying the Hawkei vehicles for Land 121
Phase 4 to meet protected mobility vehicle light requirements,” BRIG Sorial
told ADM.
It’s early days for the program to be considering a price
per unit cost, and Defence Capability Plan funding has not changed. The program
office is “still going through the process to determine the value for money for
the Commonwealth” and what the final capability will look like.
“No contribution or commissions have been made by Australia
to enter the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase of JLTV,
which is what’s on at the moment,” BRIG Sorial confirmed. “However, we do
continue to observe the program with interest because of what they’re doing and
how they’re doing it.
“We monitor the JLTV through a structured program of
engagement. The Australian/US Ministerial Defence Acquisition Committee
meetings, working groups, direct interaction between the two project officers’
visits, embassy engagements or when visitors from the US come out that work in
that program, they provide us with an update on where they’re going,
challenges, issues, etc.”
BRIG Sorial did confirm that should the Hawkei program not
come together as planned, the program office would return to the open market
for contenders.
