Australian Defence Minister urges local firms for Land 400 program.

The Army said the new vehicles will offer capabilities for fighting, reconnaissance, support and training, and allow a staged retirement of light armoured vehicle and armoured personnel carrier fleets. Army’s core business is the conduct of sustained close combat. Only Army conducts this task in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) on behalf of Government. LAND 400 delivers part of that capability and is replacing some of the capability we already have – ASLAV and M113AS4 – in accordance with good military practice.

LAND 400 will deliver a Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle (CRV), an Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV), a Manoeuvre Support Vehicle (MSV) and an Integrated Training System (ITS).

LAND 400 will allow a staged retirement of the in-service Australian Light Armoured Vehicle (ASLAV), derivated from the amercian LAV 25, and the M113AS4 Armoured Personnel Carrier fleets in line with their technical Life of Type and reducing tactical utility in the contemporary operational environment that involves increasing levels of lethality and complexity.

The highest priority for Army is to replace the ASLAV fleet with a CRV due to obsolescence factors that constrain tactical employment and increase the cost of ownership. These obsolescence factors cannot be mitigated through upgrade and without replacement starting in 2020, a capability gap will result.

Cities including Geelong and Adelaide have been promoting their manufacturing capabilities ahead of the process, to make up for job losses in the automotive industry.

In February 16, Mr Andrews met with industry representatives in Geelong and told them to join together to compete for the contract. "We will be shortly making an announcement about the tender process then there'll be a proper open tender process," he said. "One of the important things about this is that one of the things that will be looked at is the Australian industry involvement in any successful tender.

"We are keen to ensure that and my visit here is to send the message to local industry: get involved, be part of the tender process because there is a real consideration in this process for Australian involvement."

Last week, the Federal Government was pressed to clarify the future of Australia's multi-billion-dollar submarines contract. In the lead-up the party room vote on his leadership, Prime Minister Tony Abbott reassured South Australian Liberal senator Sean Edwards that Australia's shipbuilding company ASC would be allowed to compete.

In the election campaign the Coalition promised that the next fleet of submarines would be built by ASC but it has since opened the way for foreign companies to win the contract, triggering speculation that Japan is the frontrunner.

The Opposition pressed the Government over the issue, asking when Mr Abbott would deliver that promise given South Australia's latest jobless figure of 7.3 per cent.