The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is to receive an extra 8,500 EF88 bullpup rifles under an order announced by the Department of Defence on 13 July.
Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said: ‘The rifles will be manufactured at the Thales Australia site in Lithgow, New South Wales, which employs around 130 Australians.’
The weapons are being procured under the lethality portion of the Soldier Modernisation Programme.
Wider dissemination of the EF88 within the ADF will allow older weapons to be retired, in turn reducing the cost of sustainment, maintenance and training. The reserve force, specifically the 2nd Division of the Australian Army,
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The new artillery and howitzer factory pre-dates the emphasis on this capability from this month’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR). The first joint industry-government meeting outlined in the review took place this week.
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Lockheed Martin’s Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) is a next-generation surface-to-surface missile with the solid rocket motor (SRM) provided by Northrop Grumman. The company is working to boost its SRM production capability.
The CV90 is in service with or ordered by ten countries. The agreement between six of these countries is designed to create commonality to provide economies of scale and a reduced training burden.
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