Navantia Australia and Rheinmetall Defence Australia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the Australian Army’s next generation amphibious vehicle. The MoU was signed during the Land Forces 2021 exposition in Brisbane, QLD on Tuesday, 1 June 2021. Rheinmetall’s successful track record in manufacturing specialist military vehicles for the Australian Defence Force and globally made the partnership a natural one for Navantia Australia. Through the project, an Independent Landing Craft will be delivered to replace the Army’s existing LCM-8 vessels and LARC-V.
The partnership between Navantia Australia, Design Authority for over 110,000 tonnes of the Royal Australian Navy’s major surface fleet, and Rheinmetall, manufacturer of the Australian Army’s fleet of high mobility logistics vehicles and the BOXER 8×8 CRV fleet, will provide the Australian Army with the world’s toughest and most capable amphibious vehicle – designed, built and sustained in Australia by Australians. The MoU, signed at Land Forces Conference 2021, will see Navantia Australia and Rheinmetall collaborate on developing a fast, formidable and future-proof amphibious vehicle design.
“We look forward to working alongside Navantia Australia to develop an amphibious logistics capability that will meet the requirements of the Australian Defence Force and has export potential. Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles Australia has delivered more than 2,500 high mobility logistics vehicles to the ADF through LAND 1213B/5B and this ensures we have a world-leading vehicle to meet and exceed the requirements of LAND 8710 Phase 1 CE2.” said Gary Stewart, Managing Director of Rheinmetall Defence Australia.
“When we were considering partners for the LAND 8710 program, Rheinmetall was the obvious choice. Their land based expertise married with our in-depth maritime experience, will bring the best of Australia’s engineers together to develop this new capability for Australia.” said Mr GarcÃa-Valdés.
We are excited to collaborate with Rheinmetall on the LAND 8710 Phase 1 CE2 program,” said Alfonso GarcÃa-Valdés, Acting Director of Navantia Australia.
Rheinmetall sets the global standard for excellence in a wide array of disciplines and offers an extensive array of military hardware that delivers mobility, lethality, survivability of troops, reconnaissance capability and networking of national and international systems. Rheinmetall Defence Australia is a subsidiary of Rheinmetall AG, with offices and operations in Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Navantia Australia designs, integrates and supports naval maritime platforms and systems for the Royal Australian Navy. We are recognised as a Design Authority by the Commonwealth of Australia for the Canberra Class Landing Helicopter Docks (LHD) and Landing Craft, Hobart Class Guided Missile Destroyers (DDG) and Supply Class Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment (AOR) Ships. At Navantia Australia, we are committed to growing our local workforce and links to the Australian Supply Chain to best support the growth of a truly Australian naval shipbuilding and sustainment industry.
