Australia's defence industry has had a major international success today with ADI Limited selected to supply the US Army with up to 62 High Mobility Engineering Vehicles (HMEV). The vehicles will be supplied to the US Army for its interim high mobility engineering excavator (IHMEE) program.
The US Army made its decision on the AUD$30m plus contract after evaluating ADI's HMEV under its foreign comparative test program. The unique HMEV was designed, developed and manufactured by ADI at its Bendigo facility to meet an Australian Army need for a high speed, high mobility and multi purpose engineering vehicle which is air transportable.
ADI managing director, Mr Jean-Georges Malcor, said the size of the US market represented enormous potential for the highly innovative HMEV, which is capable of travelling at speeds of 100 kph. "The US Army vehicles are an interim purchase, and if they perform well in operations, significantly larger orders will be competed for and are expected to follow from what is one of the most respected and demanding customers in the world, " Mr Malcor said.
"For both the interim IHMEE program and future High Mobility Engineering Excavator (HMEE) program, which calls for a number of vehicles in excess of 1,800, ADI has teamed with leading US military vehicle manufacturer Oshkosh Truck Corporation of Oshkosh Wisconsin, USA. ADI and Oshkosh submitted our market survey questionnaire to the US military in November.
"Oshkosh was our partner of choice because of their unparalleled expertise in engineering, building and supporting trucks for the US military and worldwide. Oshkosh has manufactured more then 24,000 defence trucks that operate in the most extreme terrain and conditions.
"The ADI HMEV is currently being evaluated by Canada, the United Arab Emirates and has drawn interest from several NATO countries and the US Marines. The US Army decision for the interim HMEE will clearly strengthen our prospects of further sales and underlines ADI's vehicle design and system engineering capabilities," he said.
Last month ADI, Australia's leading defence, systems and engineering company, delivered the last of 27 HMEVs ordered by the Australian Army. ADI has received considerable support from the Australian Government and the Australian Defence Force in its efforts to be selected for the US contract.
Mr Malcor said the HMEV was a complex engineering achievement that had become a significant showcase of Australian skills. Mr Malcor said the contract with the US Army was expected to be signed early in the New Year with vehicle production commencing in Bendigo soon afterwards and deliveries to commence in late 2002.
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.
Its durability, reliability, ability to self deploy at high speed, 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.
