Friday, February 20, 2015

Australia Will Hold Open Tender for Infantry Fighting Vehicle, etc

Australia will hold an open tender for a multi-billion dollar project to replace the army's current light armored vehicles with a next-generation ground combat system, Defence Minister Kevin Andrews said on Thursday.

The proposed LAND 400 project to replace a fleet of light fighting vehicles could be worth as much as A$10 billion, media has reported. The government called it a "multi-billion dollar" project in a statement.

Britain's BAE Systems, which earlier this month won a contract to do heavy maintenance in Australia on Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 stealth fighters, has been mentioned as a possible contender for the contract.

U.S. defense giant General Dynamics Corp has also been mentioned in Australian media, as well as France's Thales and German technology group Rheinmetall AG.

The contracts will be seen as a boon for Australia's struggling manufacturing industry, which has been battered in recent years by thousands of job losses and the departure of its automotive industry.

At the same time, Industry Minister Ian MacFarlane issued an opaque warning not to view the tender as simply a jobs package and warned that Australian firms that did bid would be held to the highest standards.

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