Australia resuscitates howitzer ambitions
Australia is again on the hunt for a new self-propelled howitzer (SPH), seven years after it abruptly cancelled the Project Land 17 Phase 2 tender process that had selected the South Korean AS9 (a variant of the K9 Thunder used by the Republic of Korea Army) as preferred tenderer.
The Australian Army is now seeking 30 SPHs, all of which are to be indigenously built and maintained at a new green-field facility in Geelong, Victoria from 2022/23.
The government will proceed under the Smart Buyer framework, which means a single vendor can be preselected without need for a competitive evaluation
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