The last of the 27 ADI Limited high mobility engineering vehicles (HMEV) ordered by the Australian Army was handed over today.
ADI managing director, Mr Jean-Georges Malcor, said the HMEV had demonstrated Australia's ability to produce world leading, complex systems engineering vehicles.
"The United States, Canada and the United Arab Emirates are all currently evaluating the HMEV, so it has clearly created a strong awareness internationally of our military vehicle capabilities," he said. "We are confident the vehicle will attract ongoing overseas interest and develop into an export winner for Australia.
"As the HMEV was the first vehicle developed and manufactured by ADI, it is particularly pleasing that it has become such a showcase of our project management and systems engineering skills and has enabled us to develop an innovative vehicle business."
The HMEV is believed to be the only vehicle in the world designed from the ground up to offer the cross country performance of a four wheel drive, the earth moving functions of a tractor with front end loader and back hoe attached and a highway speed of 100kph.
It was designed, developed and manufactured in Australia by ADI to meet an Australian Army need. Its toughness and reliability and ability to self deploy, travel quickly, handle difficult terrain and deliver a range of engineering tasks saw it perform very successfully in peace keeping duties for the Canadian Army in East Timor.
The US Army is seeking an "interim high mobility engineering excavation vehicle" and is currently evaluating the HMEV for this project under its foreign comparative test program. The program takes the best off-the-shelf products from around the world and evaluates their suitability for US military force applications.
The selection process is underway with an initial order of 62 vehicles indicated and ADI is confident the HMEV has proved strongly competitive.
