Rheinmetall has delivered the first trucks and Haulmark trailers to the Australian Army today, Australian Department of Defence.
“These trucks, trailers and modules will revolutionise Defence’s logistics capability for decades to come and hundreds of jobs have been created as part of the $3.5 billion LAND 121 Phase 3B project,” said Minister for Defence Industry, Christopher Pyne.
Minister Pyne congratulated the local defense firms who contributed to the development, delivery and support of this capability.
“The new trucks and interchangeable modules, used on the vehicles for a range of tasks including fuel and water transportation, are being supplied by Rheinmetall together with a range of local suppliers,” Pyne said.
“These suppliers come from around Australia and include G.H. Varley (Newcastle, NSW), Sea Box International (Canberra, ACT), Holmwood Highgate (Brisbane, QLD) and RPC Technologies (Sydney, NSW),” Pyne added.
In addition to the new Rheinmetall trucks and Haulmark trailers, a general maintenance capability will be delivered, expected to comprise 122 Mercedes G-Wagons and 49 converted Bushmasters and trailers.
Once deliveries to the 7th Brigade and South East Queensland units have been completed, the focus will turn to the 1st Brigade in Darwin and Adelaide in late 2017, and then to the 3rd Brigade in Townsville in 2018.
Between now and 2022, a total of 2707 vehicles, 3858 modules and 1753 trailers will be rolled out to units across Australia.