SYDNEY — Australia moved to further cement its increasingly close ties with South Korea, awarding artillery giant Hanwha a $5-7 billion AUD ($3.38 billion US) contract for infantry fighting vehicles meant to replace the country’s ancient M113 fleet.
“The LAND 400 Phase 3 project will have a value of between $5 billion and $7 billion, making it one of the largest capability acquisition projects in the history of the Army,” Pat Conroy, minister for defense industry said in a statement this morning.
“The Government is accelerating this acquisition so that the first vehicle will be delivered in early 2027, two years earlier than the former Government had planned,” Conroy added. “The final vehicle will be delivered by late 2028.”
The contract award is a major win for Hanwha — but is also much smaller than originally envisioned. Anthony Albanese’s Labor Government greatly scaled back the planned purchase from 450 to 129 in its Defence Strategic Review, released in April. The estimate for the 450 vehicle contract was $27 billion, obviously a significantly larger figure.
Conroy also noted the Redbacks will be delivered at around the same time as new HIMARS missile systems and Army Landing Craft — reflecting the Defence Strategic Review’s call for Army “to be transformed for littoral manoeuvre operations from Australia.”
Hanwha designed the Redback (named for a highly venomous spider) for Australia, and it is not a one-for-one fit for South Korea’s future needs. For instance, most Australian operations will not involve the freezing cold and snow that can hit the Korean peninsula in winter.
However, South Korean Maj. Gen. Cho Hyun-ki, deputy minister of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), two days ago told the Australian Broadcasting Corp that Korea, “may consider acquiring the Australian Army’s Redback armoured personnel carrier as an emergency force in the event of an emergency on the Korean peninsula.” Since the Redback will be built in Australia that would provide both jobs and revenue to the Lucky Country.
The two countries began knitting their defense industrial bases together when in December 2021 Hanwha was awarded a $1 billion AUD ($700 million US) contract to build 30 self-propelled howitzers and 15 armored ammunition resupply vehicles. The company built a plant in Geelong, the home district of the now defense minister, Richard Marles. (The minister has recused himself from all decisions involving the M113 replacement). However, Australia did cancel a planned second regiment of self-propelled Huntsman howitzers built by Hanwha in its Defence Strategic Review.
In the days leading up to the final Infantry Fighting Vehicle decision, Germany pulled out all the stops to encourage Australia to buy from the NATO country. A few weeks before Talisman Sabre, Australia’s top international exercise, Australia announced that 150 German troops would participate for the first time.
Then last week Germany’s Army chief of staff flew to Australia and met with reporters in Canberra, where Lt. Gen. Alfons Mais told them he is “totally convinced, and I hope that our parliament will decide in the fourth quarter of 2023 that the contract (for the Boxers) can be signed.” The German general also toured the plant in Queensland where the Lynx IFV would be built.
However, it was not enough to overcome what were clearly Australian concerns about performance, supply lines and the diplomatic ties between the two Indo-Pacific countries. The South Korean’s Redback was designed for use by Australia and supply lines for any South Korean kit are much shorter.