A Redback conducts a live fire demonstration during trials at Puckapunyal.Credit:Defence Department
The defence industry minister said the project was in response to Labor’s landmark Defence Strategic Review handed down in April,which foundthe ADF was ill-equipped for modern warfare. The review scaled down the Land 400 project from producing 450 infantry fighting vehicles to 129.
“After two years of very extensive testing and evaluation by Australian soldiers,the Redback was found to be the best option for the Australian Army,” Conroy said on Thursday.
“These state-of-the-art armoured vehicles will come with the latest generation armour,cannon and missiles,providing the protection,mobility and firepower needed by soldiers in close combat.”
Conroy also criticised the former Coalition government,accusing it of failing to deliver on the project before the 2022 federal election.
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“We will deliver all 129 vehicles before the former government planned to deliver one,” he said.
Shadow defence minister Andrew Hastie welcomed the announcement,but said it was 10 months overdue. He also criticised the earlier defence review,which he said “cannibalised” the infantry fighting vehicle program,“degrading our land combat power and weakening the army”.
Hastie called on the government to reveal where the savings from scaling down the program would be reallocated.
“It is disappointing,but not surprising,to see Labor underinvesting in Australia’s defence industry,” he said. “We once again ask that the government improve its engagement with the industry,who have suffered under the DSR and Labor’s May budget.”
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