What I'm saying is we should buy the same support vehicles as the Australians not a completely different make/model that has to have a seperate logistics tail when there is an Aust/Pacific hub setup already operating now! setting up a new small support system will again cost more in the long run
What's the status of Hawkei production currently (i.e. mechanical issues recently alluded to by AusGov and production timelines)?
Might have to wait until the MoD or DefMin proactively releases the Cabinet Decision docs to get a clearer understanding of why Vamtac ST5 UV-Light was chosen.
Just guessing but for example perhaps the ST5's modularity was a feature the Army wanted? The ST5 is also lighter but so is its payload capacity.
Judging by the lack of extra information released on variants at this stage, again just guessing but going by numbers (40 ordered) suggest the CK3 UV-Medium may be the general service vehicle variant (e.g. geared towards domestic use or SW Pacific governmental/HADR support) or at least a proportion of them.
The tender documents as mentioned above talks about:
-48 two-door general service vehicles possessing a removable troop carrier module.
-24 command/command post vehicles of either two- or four-door configuration
-Approx 20 C2 forward information support team vehicles.
-16 four-door maintenance support vehicles
-Approx 12 two-door ambulances able to accommodate two stretchers.
This just announced procurement (tranche one) is earmarked to replace 25% of the current fleet, so there will be forthcoming opportunties to procure additonal vehicle/types that are fit for purpose for the above requirements and perhaps with additional scope to enhance direct interoperability with the ADF. If so, as an exercise, what could these potentially be?
