While displaying its Hawkei NGPV (New-Generation Protected Vehicle), Thales Australia confirmed the vehicle is now in production for the Australian army, 70 units having already been delivered. The full-rate production will start by the end of 2019, a few months late on initial schedule. 1,100 units (plus 1,000 associated trailers) are to be delivered to the Australian army by 2021.

Thales Hawkei (Picture source: Army Recognition)

The 7-ton Hawkei is a 4x4 light protected vehicle manufactured by Thales Australia. Drawing on both international and local expertise provided by Boeing, PAC Group or Plasan, and numerous Australian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), the vehicle’s design incorporates world-leading innovative technologies. The Thales Hawkei was designed within the framework of a modernization of light wheeled vehicles used by the Australian Army. The Hawkei will provide a Light Protected Vehicle to replace the Australian Army's Landrover fleet.

The vehicle is named after a stealthy species of Death Adder – Acanthophis Hawkei – which is native to Australia. The new ground-breaking design meets emerging performance and capability requirements, including systems that allow the Hawkei to become a fully integrated node on the network centric battlefield.

The Hawkei is designed to accommodate the future system demands of adaptive campaigning, with C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence) capabilities as fundamental part of its DNA.