Federal Government Resolves Hawkei Vehicle Braking Issue and Awards New Defence Contracts

The federal government has announced that the braking issue found in Hawkei military vehicles has been resolved. The Australian Defence Force had stopped accepting these vehicles in 2020 due to the problem, leaving dozens of light-armoured patrol vehicles idle outside the Thales arms manufacturing factory in Central Victoria.

Federal Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy stated that a solution has been found, and planning is underway to roll out the vehicles to defence force units nationwide. “These vehicles are critical to the mobility of the Australian Army,” he said. “We’ll roll them out through a remediation program to have the fix installed. Defence will then advise the government on when we can expect to declare full operational capability.”

Brigadier John-Paul Ouvrier mentioned that the Australian Army worked closely with Thales to identify and rectify the fault. “We did extensive testing to identify the fault with the modulator, both on the vehicles but also in the workshop,” he said.

New Contract Provides Certainty for Defence Manufacturer

The Australian Government has also announced a $45-million defence contract for Thales Australia to build 15 new missile-equipped Bushmaster vehicles. The French defence manufacturer is currently building 78 Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles in Bendigo as part of a $160 million contract, with production on the new 15 to start mid next year. Last year, Australia sent 90 Bushmasters to Ukraine to aid in its war against Russia.

Minister Pat Conroy highlighted that the Government had spent over $200 million on Thales defence contracts. “Bushmasters save lives,” he said. “We’ve seen them save Australian soldiers’ lives in Afghanistan and Ukrainian lives in Ukraine.” Additionally, the Fijian government recently approved an order to buy 14 Bushmasters from the Australian Government.

The new vehicles will be critical for the Army’s long-range fires regiment, said the defence minister. “[These are the] most advanced variant of the Bushmaster,” Mr. Conroy stated. “These are critical to standing up our new regiment of long-range fires that will deploy high mobility artillery rocket systems.”