The Age,
Defence Force chief Peter Cosgrove could have been forgiven a touch of nostalgia as he inspected the new, upgraded version of the army's M113 armoured personnel carrier yesterday. Despite tougher armour and a new gun turret, it was essentially the same vehicle that carried him through Vietnam's jungles more than 30 years ago.
With recent conflicts emphasising the need to protect infantry, the APCs are set for another 30 years of service.
“I think they are still necessary, close-combat tools for the protection of our infantry,” General Cosgrove said. “There is a proliferation of automatic weapons, shrapnel weapons and even anti-armour weapons of a smaller nature, which this thing will provide reasonable protection against.”
In a $500 million program, 350 of the army's APCs will be upgraded. “It is going to be greatly up-armoured, and there is a bigger engine to help with that,” General Cosgrove said.
“That armour will do what we weren't able to do before, which was to move our people in a lightly armoured mobile box from A to B in protected circumstances.”
In the upgrade by Tenix Defence, the APC's hull is cut in half and the carrier extended to make room for more people.
Two demonstration models, including the one clambered over by defence chiefs in Canberra yesterday, have been produced. They will enter service in 2006.
Tenix M113 manager Chris McGrechan said it was likely the demonstration vehicle had seen service in Vietnam.
“Hats off to the guys who designed these vehicles,” he said. “They set out to make a cheap vehicle and they did a good job. It is one of the enduring features of this carrier that it has survived for so long.”
