Australian Army Discussions and Updates

[vonnoobie]

There are really a few options, In the short term could see some upgrades fitted a select few vehicles that would be intended for operational use or if the Mk6 with all of it's upgrades meets the future requirements of the Bushmaster replacement could see the ADF even tap into same production run as the UK delivering better savings.

 

[zhaktronz]

That is a good point Raven.

The Lynx KF41 (7.7m x 3.6m x 3.3m) is also a considerably larger vehicle than the CV90 (6.55m x 3.1m x 2.7m), assuming the CV90 MkIV is a similar size to other models. Presumably the protection levels of the 37 ton CV90 MkIV would be in a similar ballpark to the 44 ton Lynx having a much smaller volume to protect.

For what its worth the Lance turret appears to have a smaller under-armour volume than the E30/35 turret of the CV90 - that will probably free up 1-2 tons. But the CV90 has never exactly been known for having a large fighting compartment. The lower height in particular may compromise the ability to incorporate as effective blast protection as some of the other contenders.

 

[MARKMILES77]

Australian Defence Magazine
30 Jan 2018
Electro Optics Systems (EOS) is nudging at being Australia largest exporter with the announcement of a new $600 million contract for 30mm remote weapons stations (RWS) to an unnamed customer.
Coming only a day after the Government released its highly anticipated Export Strategy, EOS took the opportunity to open its new production facility in Canberra and announce the contract.

The 30mm RWS features an Orbital ATK cannon and has been under development for four years, having been tested in seven countries over that period, EOS’ CEO Ben Green said in his remarks this morning.

“This innovative technology allows 30 mm cannon systems to be deployed on light vehicles for the first time with unprecedented accuracy, significantly enhancing lethality and protection without compromising mobility, and at low cost. It meets and over-matches current threats,” Greene said.

For American JLTVs perhaps??

This must be the 30mm Cannon on RWS, Thales was offering as an option for the Bushmaster MR6 at the International Armoured Vehicle Conference 2018.
Would be a massive upgrade in fire power for the Australian Army if some were fitted to Australian Bushmasters and Hawkeis.

 

[MARKMILES77]

Out of curiosity has the new Mk6 done away with the spare wheel?

Interesting

Regards S

Thales has now released a corporate video which gives an Overview of the MR6 with some more information. It looks like the hull may in fact be no longer than the existing Bushmaster, but the extra internal space which allows extra passengers, is obtained by sacrificing the spare wheel and widening the rear of the hull.

And MR6 stands for Multi Role 6th planned production run.

 

[alexsa]

Thales has now released a corporate video which gives an Overview of the MR6 with some more information. It looks like the hull may in fact be no longer than the existing Bushmaster, but the extra internal space which allows extra passengers, is obtained by sacrificing the spare wheel and widening the rear of the hull.

And MR6 stands for Multi Role 6th planned production run.

Thanks for that. Out of curiosity have all the Australian bushmasters been delivered or are they still in production. Try as I might I cannot find any detail on this.

 

[vonnoobie]

Thales has now released a corporate video which gives an Overview of the MR6 with some more information. It looks like the hull may in fact be no longer than the existing Bushmaster, but the extra internal space which allows extra passengers, is obtained by sacrificing the spare wheel and widening the rear of the hull.

And MR6 stands for Multi Role 6th planned production run.

Spare wheel may be on a variant by variant basis if this picture is anything to go by.

 

[Milne Bay]

Thanks for that. Out of curiosity have all the Australian bushmasters been delivered or are they still in production. Try as I might I cannot find any detail on this.

If my maths is correct, then there are probably around forty yet to be delivered
MB

 

[t68]

I was under the impression the Bushmaster line had closed to make it ready for Hawkie, as they were building using the same line

New army vehicles to be built in Bendigo | www.engineersaustralia.org.au

The Thales assembly line at Bendigo has been producing the Bushmaster vehicle since 2004. As Bushmaster production winds down, pilot Hawkei vehicle production will start in early 2016 with first deliveries expected towards the end of 2017.

 

[MARKMILES77]

Spare wheel may be on a variant by variant basis if this picture is anything to go by.

Looks like it.
So this version would have the same seating capacity as the current Bushmaster but if you require extra seating you just delete the tire carriage.
Wouldn't be surprised if there is an Australian order.

 

[Trackmaster]

New army vehicles to be built in Bendigo | www.engineersaustralia.org.au[/QUOTE]

I was under the impression the Bushmaster line had closed to make it ready for Hawkie, as they were building using the same line

New army vehicles to be built in Bendigo | www.engineersaustralia.org.au

Here's a bit of humour.
According to the Courier Mail in Brisbane, the Bushmaster is a Queensland product. Just a bit of help from the folks in Bendigo.
All part of the push to have the Army's new wheeled "tanks" built in Brisbane.

 

[t68]

Here's a bit of humour.
According to the Courier Mail in Brisbane, the Bushmaster is a Queensland product. Just a bit of help from the folks in Bendigo.
All part of the push to have the Army's new wheeled "tanks" built in Brisbane.

That's gold

 

[Milne Bay]

I was under the impression the Bushmaster line had closed to make it ready for Hawkie, as they were building using the same line

New army vehicles to be built in Bendigo | www.engineersaustralia.org.au

Yes, it is interesting.
The Bushmaster MR6 is being built on a line somewhere there, and I would guess it is the same line that produced the existing Bushmasters.
The fact that there is a new variant seems to suggest either that the orders for the older variant have been completed, or that there has been a variation in the contract for those remaining to make it worthwhile producing the MR6

 

[alexsa]

Yes, it is interesting.
The Bushmaster MR6 is being built on a line somewhere there, and I would guess it is the same line that produced the existing Bushmasters.
The fact that there is a new variant seems to suggest either that the orders for the older variant have been completed, or that there has been a variation in the contract for those remaining to make it worthwhile producing the MR6

Which was sort of what I was thinking and wondering if the last for the Australian army would be built to the newer specification. This would allow the new version to be demonstrated and offered while the line was still active. However, I am not rash enough to presume anything.

 

[benson1610]

Just an observation,but regarding whether we export components or finished vehicles its interesting this global supply chain,for example we export armor plate for various oshkosh armored vehicles etc other countries ,maybe including the latest oshkosh jltv,we also export the various cable systems for the boxer,eos has total orders of $600m for their satellite laser guided targeting system ie same system as will b used on our boxer if selected,we export various suspension systems,if selected and if correct we will b exporting the lance turret.
If selected we will b manufacturing the 30 or 35mm rheinmetall canon and various ammunition plus the israeli spike missile etc etc etc.
So my point,our car industry collapsed because we assembled the entire vehicles in Australia including labor intensive parts that could have been imported at much less cost including using cheap dumped chinese mild steel to lower vehicle cost (ie not requiring quality steels produced by bsl or bisalloy for various sectors including armor,construction etc).
So at the end of the day maybe supplying 70% of boxer technology quality parts into the global supply chain is better than assembling the entire vehicle ie labor intensive 30% ,for export.
ps as i will not give an opinion on vehicle selection i'm interested the boxer sounds like a very capable vehicle ,and for manufacturing reasons the lynx for phase 3 makes sense as the puma probably ? to expensive.But any opinions on the lynx compared to the cv90 bae vehicle as the cv90 from a laymans view looks the part,the lynx looks like a card board cut out they used in ww2.But as posted i have no opinion just an observation,hope i'm wrong i can only find reviews of the boxer and puma.. .

 

[Redrighthand]

So at the end of the day maybe supplying 70% of boxer technology quality parts into the global supply chain is better than assembling the entire vehicle ie labor intensive 30% ,for export.

That part of your comment I agree with. The problem with car manufacturing in Australia wasn't, imho, quality. The problem was simply market size. You can't develop a vehicle (and it's tooling) for a country of 20 Million people, and expect it to be competitive with a vehicle to designed to compete in a market literally an order of magnitude larger - with the inherent economies of scale associated with those numbers. If we're not exporting (in any manufacturing field) we're going to be expensive. So back on topic, if we can export some of our components to allies, then that could well offset not actually building a vehicle here.

 

[ngatimozart]

Just an observation,but regarding whether we export components or finished vehicles its interesting this global supply chain,for example we export armor plate for various oshkosh armored vehicles etc other countries ,maybe including the latest oshkosh jltv,we also export the various cable systems for the boxer,eos has total orders of $600m for their satellite laser guided targeting system ie same system as will b used on our boxer if selected,we export various suspension systems,if selected and if correct we will b exporting the lance turret.
If selected we will b manufacturing the 30 or 35mm rheinmetall canon and various ammunition plus the israeli spike missile etc etc etc.
So my point,our car industry collapsed because we assembled the entire vehicles in Australia including labor intensive parts that could have been imported at much less cost including using cheap dumped chinese mild steel to lower vehicle cost (ie not requiring quality steels produced by bsl or bisalloy for various sectors including armor,construction etc).
So at the end of the day maybe supplying 70% of boxer technology quality parts into the global supply chain is better than assembling the entire vehicle ie labor intensive 30% ,for export.
ps as i will not give an opinion on vehicle selection i'm interested the boxer sounds like a very capable vehicle ,and for manufacturing reasons the lynx for phase 3 makes sense as the puma probably ? to expensive.But any opinions on the lynx compared to the cv90 bae vehicle as the cv90 from a laymans view looks the part,the lynx looks like a card board cut out they used in ww2.But as posted i have no opinion just an observation,hope i'm wrong i can only find reviews of the boxer and puma.. .

Just some housekeeping. Could you please have better sentence structure and punctuation in your posts. It just makes it easier for others to read and understand.

 

[ASSAIL]

I see our State Premiers are becoming very vocal about LAND 400. The Feds even got involved with the Opposition Leader seeking assurances that Victoria will get the contract.
The Queensland govt. was just As vocal demanding Ipswich gets the nod.
What with Jay Whingerall from SA complaining about lack of investment in his state Paul Keating, when PM, never said a truer word when he stated that one should never get between a state Premier and a bucket of money.
I fervently wish that politics plays no part in the final selection and that Army is strong enough to withstand the sectional interests and allow capability to decide

 

[MARKMILES77]

Victorian Govt has been advertising widely the Defence capabilities of Victoria as a reason for awarding Land 400 Phase 2 to Victoria.
In one Ad on The Age website they show a series of photos of products manufactured or planned to be manufactured in Victoria, such as Bushmaster, Hawkei, Upgraded M113AS4 etc. One of the photos contains a low loader mounted howitzer. Anyone know anything about this?
Photo has no caption in the Ad.

 

[MARKMILES77]

Here is another image:
Product for a foreign Government?

 

[Milne Bay]

Here is another image:
Product for a foreign Government?View attachment 45716

Looks more like clip art from some fantasy website.
Are you really going to fire what looks like a weapon larger than a 155mm from a flatbed trailer.