Australian Heavy Armored Combat Capability - Land 907Ph2/Land8160 Ph1

GTX

GTX

All hail the God of Frustration!!!
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How does a country with the size and range of terrains of Australia arrive at a number for its armoured forces? Or is there also an expeditionary role included?
Interesting to contrast with New Zealand which is of course a lot further away from any potential opponents.
Looks some useful kit, maybe in future the UK will have to down a similar route.
 
Its based more on planned concepts of operations including deployability options...
 
Formal announcement:

Enhancing the ADF's armoured combat capability | Department of Defence Ministers

Enhancements to the Australian Defence Force’s credible combat capability will be delivered by the Government through the purchase of evolved Abrams tanks and combat engineering vehicles.Minister for Defence, the Hon Peter Dutton MP today announced a $3.5 billion investment in the Main Battle...
www.minister.defence.gov.au www.minister.defence.gov.au
 
First ABV in Australian service:

20250527army8604025_0305.jpg.iifTtcb0MQ931eVjwCUA.vH2xUxIWJW.jpg
 
That is a LOT of ABVs! Do like the Aussie camo, plain green or tan is so boring!

GTX said:
75 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams MBT;
29 M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicles;
18 M1074 Joint Assault Bridges
6 more M88A2 Hercules
Click to expand...
That's a battalion and a half of Abrams.
Two companies of ABVs
IIRC 3 platoons of bridges
And I think 2 more platoons of M88s

All new purchase, on top of what Oz already has?
 
Scott Kenny said:
That is a LOT of ABVs! Do like the Aussie camo, plain green or tan is so boring!


That's a battalion and a half of Abrams.
Two companies of ABVs
IIRC 3 platoons of bridges
And I think 2 more platoons of M88s

All new purchase, on top of what Oz already has?
Click to expand...

This replaces the existing M1A1s, which are already going to Ukraine.

The number of ABVs makes very little sense to me, even accounting for the fact that they will be supporting the Redbacks as well.
 
TomS said:
This replaces the existing M1A1s, which are already going to Ukraine.
Click to expand...
Okay, so Oz only has 5 companies of Abrams? Huh. I don't think that will work as well as they want it to. That's roughly 1 tank company per (active-duty) brigade.

Take that back, with Oz only buying 129 Redbacks, this will give them 5 mixed battalions, each with 1 Abrams company and 2 Redback companies.


TomS said:
The number of ABVs makes very little sense to me, even accounting for the fact that they will be supporting the Redbacks as well.
Click to expand...
4 ABVs per mixed battalion (accounts for 20), plus training units (9).

I think it fits.
 
Grey Havoc said:
From back in 2018:
www.australiandefence.com.au

Tank Talk: Land 907 Phase 2 and Land 8160 industry brief - Australian Defence Magazine

At this stage, the program office is taking a program approach to the two projects in order to maximise value for money through economies of scale, using a common hull where possible for the new engin...
www.australiandefence.com.au www.australiandefence.com.au
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's out of date. While the acquisition phase of both projects has happened in a combined manner, the sustainment plans which focussed upon a GDLS-A led approach fell apart late last year. And rightly so as it was going to cost a lot and not deliver. HASPO are working to develop new plans.
 
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