The Duesseldorf, Germany-based tech enterprise has been selected to supply the Australian Defence Force with more than a thousand additional military trucks and modules. Just signed, the contract is worth €430 million.
The Commonwealth of Australia has thus acted on a procurement decision already announced in July 2018.
Delivery is scheduled to commence in 2019 and be complete in 2024.
The latest purchase forms part of Australia’s Land 121 Phase 5B project. Rheinmetall has already proved its mettle in earlier phase of the project, 3B, under which it is currently supplying Australia with 2,500 medium- and heavyweight military trucks worth a total of €1.2 billion. The trucks ship out from the Group’s plant in Brisbane, where final integration and acceptance testing takes place before delivery to the Commonwealth.
Commenting on the contract, Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall AG, stated that “This follow-up order is of great strategic significance to us, providing an excellent reference for other important international projects. It reflects Australia’s satisfaction with our performance and the quality of our vehicles. Rheinmetall’s latest success in the Asia-Pacific region proves that our products are at the cutting edge of technology, and that the customer see in us a proven and reliable partner, fully capable of carrying out sophisticated large-scale projects.”
Michael Wittlinger, head of Rheinmetall Logistic Vehicles and a member of the Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles GmbH board of directors, emphasizes the company’s commitment to making its trucks the high-performance logistic backbone of the Australian Defence Force.
“We’re very proud to be able to continue our outstanding cooperation with the ADF”, declares Wittlinger. “We’ll be working closely with our network of Australian partners and subcontractors to make sure the ADF can count on these high-mobility trucks and build-ons in deployed operations.” By including Australian defence contractors and helping to create local production capacity, Rheinmetall is helping Australia establish an independent military vehicle industry, significantly augmenting the nation’s defence technology capabilities.
Rheinmetall AG’s Defence arm is a globally leading supplier of military hardware, including tracked and wheeled armoured vehicles, weapon systems, ammunition, simulation solutions, command and control technology, force protection systems and state-of-the-art sensors.
The Group’s in-country truck specialist, Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles Australia (RMMVA), has more than 150 employees at five locations. It supports the Australian military in a variety of ways, including project management, system engineering and integration, lifecycle support, maintenance and repairs, and spare parts management.