Australia awards South Korea’s Hanwha $4.7 billion defence contract

SYDNEY (Reuters) – South Korea’s greatest defence firm Hanwha Aerospace on Thursday beat Germany’s Rheinmetall to win an Australian contract value as much as A$7 billion ($4.74 billion) for constructing 129 infantry preventing automobiles.

The deal, which Defence Trade Minister Pat Conroy described as one of many largest initiatives within the historical past of the Australian military, can have a price of A$5 billion to A$7 billion.

“The state-of-the-art automobiles will include the newest technology armour, cannon and missiles, offering the safety, mobility and firepower wanted by troopers in shut fight,” Conroy advised reporters.

The brand new automobiles, to be inbuilt Australia at Hanwha’s services in Victoria state, will substitute the M113 armoured personnel carriers that first entered service in 1964.

Australia has been upgrading its defence capabilities, citing the altering strategic setting within the Pacific area, the place China is seeking to improve its affect.

Conroy mentioned the federal government will pace up the method in order that the primary car will be delivered in early 2027, two years sooner than deliberate, and the ultimate car by 2028.

Hanwha mentioned the deal would additional increase ties between Australia and South Korea and had “important implications” for defence and financial cooperation. Rheinmetall didn’t reply instantly to a request for remark.

The choice to choose Hanwha’s Redback as Australia’s new infantry preventing car comes two weeks after a visit by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to Germany, the place he signed an in-principle settlement to export 100 Boxer armed carriers made in Australia by defence contractor Rheinmetall again to Germany.

($1 = 1.4780 Australian {dollars})

(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Modifying by Alasdair Pal and Jamie Freed)

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