Hanwha and EOS partner to bid for Australian Land 400 Phase 3 project

South Korean firm Hanwha’s wholly owned Australian defence subsidiary has partnered with Electro Optic Systems (EOS) to bid for the Australian Army’s Land 400 Phase 3 programme.

Phase 3 of the LAND 400 project is also known as Mounted Close Combat Capability. It will see the replacement of the Australian Army’s M113 armoured personnel carriers.

The project will acquire 450 infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) and 17 manoeuvre support vehicles (MSV).

Hanwha is the prime contractor and EOS is the principal first-tier subcontractor as part of the partnership arrangement.

The team has offered Hanwha’s ‘Redback’ IFV integrated with the EOS T-2000 turret for the programme. The IFV was introduced on to the global market late last month.

EOS Group CEO Dr Ben Greene said: “Hanwha is one of the world’s largest, most experienced, and most advanced armoured vehicle developers and manufacturers. All of this shows in the Redback infantry fighting vehicle.

“The Redback is an ideal platform for our T-2000 turret because the performance, cost and weight advantages of the turret are fully capitalised when combined with Redback’s advanced design features.”

“This collaboration represents a significant investment for the partners over many years, and the performance advantages of Redback with T-2000 will be exploited in joint marketing campaigns through 2019 and beyond.”

“EOS has submitted proposals for well over $2bn of its turrets and weapon systems over the past 12 months, under restricted or invited tenders, for the award over the next 30 months. This rate of tender submission is expected to continue for at least the medium term.”

Hanwha has so far supplied more than 7,000 armoured vehicles in the last four decades.

Earlier this week, Rheinmetall submitted a bid offering the Lynx MSV and Lynx IFV with the Lance turret for the competition.

The Australian Government is expected to make a decision on Land 400 Phase 3 in 2022.