On August 23rd, Hanwha Defence Australia (HDA) inaugurated the new 32,000 square metre Hanwha Armoured vehicle Centre of Excellence (H-ACE) in the city of Geelong, in the state of Victoria.

The H-ACE is the result of a 170 million Australian dollars investment and years of work. It has been handed over 2 and a half months ahead of schedule in what is a good achievement for HDA and its construction partner Built. and contract manager Conscia.

The new plant will initially produce the AS9 Huntsman self-propelled howitzer and its companion, the AS10 armoured ammunition resupply vehicle, which were ordered by the Australian Army in December 2021. The order comprises 30 howitzers and 15 ammunition vehicles and was once supposed to be followed by a second purchase which would have doubled those numbers. This plan was however formally abandoned in the last Defence Review.

Similarly, Hanwha’s initial hopes connected to the LAND 400 Phase 3 program for a new IFV and supporting variants have also been scaled down pretty dramatically. Australia had originally aimed to over 400, then 350 vehicles, but the program was scaled down all the way to just 129 by the time of contract award in December 2023.

The REDBACK IFV production will start after the delivery of the prototypes, planned for 2026. In the meanwhile, the H-ACE site will expand, with construction work due to start in 2025 to add a second production line and additional elements including a firing tunnel and EMC/EMI chamber, specifically with the IFV in mind.

The plant was inaugurated with the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, the Hon. Richard Marles, Chief of Army LTGEN Simon Stuart, Minister of South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration, Mr. Seok Jong-gun, and His Excellency Mr Seungseob Sim, South Korea’s Ambassador to Australia.

Despite the reductions to the Australian Army and the cutbacks it implied for the howitzer and IFVs programmes, the cooperation between the Commonwealth and South Korea is more than alive and well. Hanwha is likely to make acquisitions in Australia in the shipbuilding sector soon and is a serious candidate in the race to buy the new General Purpose frigates for the Royal Australian Navy.