Australia selects Thales Hawkei

The Australian Ministry of Defence (MOD) has announced the selection of the Thales Australia Hawkei as the preferred choice for a new Light Protected Vehicle (LPV)for the Australian Army. Australia’s Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith, made the announcement on 12 December 2011.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is seeking up to 1,300 LPVs to replace its Land Rover fleet under the Land 121 Phase 4 programme. Following prototype demonstrations including 40,000 km in vehicle testing and blast protection level testing, the vehicle will now be further developed under funding from the Australian government.

The Hawkei prototypes were developed by Thales over an 18 month period in partnership with Plasan, Boeing, PAC Group and a large number of Australian suppliers. The vehicle is a highly mobile, highly protected, 7 tonne vehicle, with in-built Vehicle Electronic Architecture to be mission system ready.

The modular design meets the needs of a wide range of military forces, and Thales Australia CEO Chris Jenkins has confirmed that the company will be seeking export sales of the vehicle.