Hawkei Program Approaches Full-Rate Production

20 Februari 2019

A Hawkei PMV-L fitted with a Kongsberg M153 Protector RWS. (photo : Aus DoD)

Following final testing of the first 100 Hawkei Protected Mobility Vehicles-Light (PMV-L), the Australian Defence Force is closing in on Stage Three of the program.

Defence Connect can confirm that the ADF has successfully completed a series of trials in Stage Two of the Hawkei program, with full-rate production due to start at Thales' Bendigo facility later this year.

A defence spokesperson told Defence Connect that the Hawkei has completed several "key elements of the testing regime", including:

*A blast test of the two-door vehicle was undertaken on 2 March 2017 at Proof and Experimental Establishment Graytown, followed by the blast test for the four-door vehicle on 17 March 2017. Both tests were successful. A two-door vehicle successfully underwent additional blast testing on 17 May 2018.

*A two-week user trial with Army and Accredited Test Services was conducted at Townsville Field Training Area from 6-17 February 2017 employing prototype Hawkei vehicles. A second user trial, employing low-rate initial production Hawkei vehicles that are more representative of the final build state, was also conducted with the 3rd Brigade in Townsville from 8-25 October 2018. Feedback from the user trials is being incorporated into the vehicle design.

*A successful external air lift trial was conducted over June-July 2017 in Townsville on both the two-door and four-door vehicles in various load states.

*Defence conducted a formal trial involving the deployment of two Hawkei vehicles to Iraq and Afghanistan from December 2017 to August 2018. The key trial objectives included the identification of operations and support issues and evaluating the deployment considerations for the Hawkei capability.

Stage Three of the program is "full-rate production", with the remaining 1,000 vehicles and 958 trailers to be delivered to Defence by 2022.

See full article Defence Connect