Breaking news
Tender of $10 billion from Australia to replace ASLAV 8x8 armoured vehicle with new tracked IFV 12701161.
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Defence & Security News - Australia
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| Tender of $10 billion from Australia to replace ASLAV 8x8 armoured vehicle with new tracked IFV. | |||
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The Australian Department of Defence is pressing on with the detailed specifications for what will be by far the largest single defence acquisition for land warfare that Australia has ever seen, of advanced combat vehicles costed at at least $10 billion. The new vehicle will replaced the current ASLAV 8x8 armoured vehicle.
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 An ASLAV (Australian Light Armoured Vehicle) fires on a target at Puckapunyal training area during Exercise Chong Ju, a live-fire training exercise by the Combined Arms Training Centre, on 21 October 2015. |
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This is for a hybrid armoured tracked combat vehicle and highly protected troop carrier – from some viewpoints the near-equivalent of a tank – known as an infantry fighting vehicle. It will be able to carry a total of 11 military personnel including commander, driver and gunner.
The process of specifying this ultra-modern weapons system is so complex that Defence has split it into four phases. Now Defence has moved on to Land 400 Phase 3 Mounted Close Combat Capability, basically a request for information. The new IFV for Australian armed forces must have some specific features to response to the new threats of the modern battlefield as rocket-propelled grenades with high-temperature warheads to melt through combat armour, IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), suicide bombers and land mines. It should detect and automatically disable incoming missiles that are radio-guided, laser-guided, wire-guided or image-seeking. Currently, Australian army are equipped with M113AS tracked armoured personnel carrier and the ASLAV (Australian Light Armoured Vehicle), an Australian light armoured vehicle designed and manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems Canada. In December 1992, the Commonwealth Government signed the ASLAV phase 2 contract with GDLS Canada for 113 ASLAV wheeled armoured fighting vehicles. Following the success of phase 2, the phase 3 contract for a further 144 ASLAVs was signed in September 2001. A total of 257 vehicles have been received in seven variants. The primary armament of the ASLAV is a M242 25mm chain gun with thermal imaging sight. An M240 7.62mm machine gun mounted coaxially to the main gun serves as a secondary weapon. There is also a MAG58 7.62mm pintle-mounted machine gun fitted on the vehicle. |
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