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| Australian Army ASLAV's on parade (File Photo) |
Adelaide, Australia- General Dynamics Land Systems-Australia has been awarded an extension to its long-term Through Life Support contact for the sustainment of the Australian Army’s M1A1 Main Battle Tank and the ASLAV wheeled reconnaissance vehicles. The contract is planned to provide support to these fleets to 2032, with this extension providing full funding until 2020.
According to General Dynamics Land Systems- Australia’s Managing Director Ian Cook, “General Dynamics is proud to have supported the Australian Army since the first deliveries of ASLAV armoured vehicles more than 20 years ago.”
The company also plans to apply its experience and capabilities to the Army’s Land Combat Vehicle System program, LAND400. Development of focused local capability is fundamental to both General Dynamics and its program partner, Thales Australia. General Dynamics will meet the LAND400 requirements with a LAV(CRV) capability, which has been proven in combat and engineered to meet the Australian Army’s operational requirement.
“General Dynamics and its key suppliers have proven contract performance and established local industrial expertise and supply chains, which will minimise start-up schedules and any program risk, whilst enhancing our existing Australian Industry Capability,” said Cook.
Enhanced protection, lethality and C4ISR systems, including the Thales C4 architecture already fielded with the Australian Defence Force, will be integrated with the superior survivability and mobility capabilities of a combat proven GDLS 8x8 LAV platform. General Dynamics and Thales will use their existing capabilities and infrastructure in Australia to execute the LAND400 LAV(CRV) program. General Dynamics’ market share provides assurance of a competitive price and low schedule and performance risk.
According to Cook, “The key elements of our proposal to Defence include a low-risk approach to providing proven products from one of the most successful combat vehicle family’s in the world, enhanced local capability, and the unmatched combined engineering capabilities of our domestic and international partners.”
Over 10,000 General Dynamics LAVs have been sold internationally and they are currently in service with allied nations including Canada, the United States and New Zealand. General Dynamics is in a unique position to draw on operational experience from decades of LAV deployments from the Balkans to the Middle East and South East Asia. The company has produced over 75 different mission specific LAV variants for deployment in the full spectrum of combat and support operations.
"We are the LAND400 team that will hit the ground running,” says Cook. “With our extensive product portfolio, we also have the only viable Military Off The Shelf (MOTS) offering with a medium calibre turret, as well as a broad technology base to offer a fully tailored MOTS Plus capability."
General Dynamics Land Systems–Australia is a prime contractor focussing on the supply of equipment, systems integration services, upgrades, fleet management services and maintenance, repair and overhaul. For more information, please visit: www.gdls.com.
Thales Australia is the manufacturer of the Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle, which is a local success story with over 1,000 vehicles already sold and supported in Australia and internationally, as well as the recently contracted Hawkei Light Protected Mobility Vehicle. For more information, please visit: www.thalesgroup.com.