Hawkei
A Hawkei protected mobility vehicle on display at the 2014 International Defence Industry Exhibition
Type	Multirole armoured car
Place of origin	Australia
Production history
Designer	Thales Australia Boeing Australia Plasan
Designed	2010
Manufacturer	Thales Australia
Produced	2016—present
Variants	See Variants
Specifications
Mass	7,000 kg (15,432 lb) (kerb), 10,000 kg (22,046 lb) (GVM)
Length	5,780mm
Width	2,396mm
Height	2,300mm
Crew	4-6
Armor	Greater than STANAG 4569 (Level 1). Additional applique armour provided by Plasan composite and V-shaped monocoque hull
Main armament	Manned weapon mount up to 12.7mm HMG or 40mm AGL or remote weapon system up to 12.7mm HMG or 40mm AGL or ATGM [1]
Engine	Steyr M16 six-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine. 200 kW (268 hp) @ 4,000rpm 610 N⋅m (450 lb⋅ft) @ 2,000rpm
Transmission	ZF 8-speed automatic
Suspension	AxleTech 3000, fully independent suspension, coil and double wishbone
Fuel capacity	200 L (53 U.S. gal)
Operational range	600 km (373 mi)
Maximum speed	130km/h (81 mph)
Steering system	Power-assisted

The Hawkei is an Australian light four-wheel-drive protected mobility vehicle. Originally designed in 2010 to meet an Australian Defence Force (ADF) requirement for a light armoured patrol vehicle to replace some of its Land Rover Perentie variants. The Hawkei is a highly mobile, highly protected, 7-tonne vehicle, with inbuilt systems to allow it to be used as a fighting platform. ^[2] It has been developed with Vehicle Electronic Architecture to be mission system ready. ^[3]

It is intended to undertake a range of mission profiles, including troop movement, command and control, electronic warfare, liaison, surveillance and reconnaissance. ^[4] Prime contractors include: Thales Australia, Boeing Australia, Plasan (Israel) and PAC Group. In October 2015, the Australian Government announced the purchase of 1,100 Hawkei vehicles from Thales Australia. ^[5]

History

As part of a wider project to replace the ADF's fleet of operational support vehicles, Project Land 121 Phase 4 – Protected Mobility Vehicle (Light) or PMV-L, is a requirement for up to 1,300 specialised light armoured vehicles to replace some of the in-service Land Rovers. Key criteria for the project included: off-road mobility, integrated vehicle electronic architecture, substantial payloads, high levels of protection against land mines, improvised explosive devices and ballistic weapons, while being light enough to be airlifted by military helicopters. The three options considered as part of the project were:

• Option 1, Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) Program - align the PMV-L requirement to the United States JLTV program to replace its fleet of High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle or ' Humvee' (awarded 25 August 2015 to Oshkosh offering L-ATV); ^[6]
• Option 2, Manufactured and Supported in Australia (MSA); and
• Option 3, Market available – pursuit of this option is subject to Australian Government decisions on Options 1 and 2. ^[7]

Competitors for the MSA option included the combat-proven MOWAG Eagle IV from General Dynamics Land Systems; the British military then selected Ocelot from Force Protection; and the Hawkei offering from Thales Australia. The JLTV option included entries from BAE Systems/Navistar, ^[8] AM General/General Dynamics ^[9] and Lockheed Martin. ^[10]

In December 2011 the Australian Department of Defence announced Hawkei as the preferred vehicle for further development and testing under the MSA option. ^[3]

In October 2015, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Minister for Defence Marise Payne announced the purchase of 1,100 Hawkei vehicles and trailers at a cost of $1.3 billion with the Hawkei to be manufactured at Thales's facility in Bendigo. ^{[11] [12]} The purchase includes 1058 trailers designed by Schutt Industries and manufactured by Thales at their facility in Eagle Farm. ^{[13] [14]} Two variants of the Hawkei will be purchased: a 4-door variant and a 2-door utility variant. ^{[15] [16]} The 4-door variant will be able to be configured using a mission-kit for three roles: Command, Liaison and Reconnaissance. ^{[15] [17]} 635 4-door variants and 465 2-door variants will be purchased. ^{[18] [13]}

In September 2018, the Australian National Audit Office released a report which criticised aspects of the Hawkei project. ^[19] The report judged that Australia should have remained in the JLTV program to provide competition for the Hawkei procurement and that the Department of Defence had not kept ministers fully informed about the Hawkei program. This included not providing ministers with a study which found that there were few benefits from building the vehicles in Australia. The ANAO was unable to publish some elements of the audit after Attorney General Christian Porter ruled that publishing it would compromise national security. Thales had taken legal action earlier in the year seeking to have material removed from the report. ^[20] Some of the suppressed elements of the report were released in 2021 following a freedom of information request, and included material stating that the Department of Defence had been unable to demonstrate that the Hawkei represented value for money compared to the JLTV. ^[21]

In December 2018, the Hawkei faced reliability issues following a demonstration test conducted on 19 November 2018, delaying full-rate production. ^[22]

In September 2020, Defence Minister Linda Reynolds and Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price announced that the Hawkei would enter full-rate production at Thales's facility in Bendigo at approximately 50 vehicles per month. ^[23]

In March 2022, it was reported that delivery of the vehicle had been delayed due to issues with their brakes, only 3 months after full production had been started. ^[24]

In July 2024, the deliveries resumed after the braking problem was fixed. ^[25]

Variants

All variants use the same four wheeled platform.

4 door

Dual cab with a crew of four to six, weapons system options including up to 12.7mm guns or 40 mm grenade systems in various mounts with a remote operated option. ^{[26] [27]}

The 4-doors variants include the following sub.variants: ^[28]

• Liaison: vehicle with general communication equipment, up to 4 personnel
• Command: vehicle with additional integrated electronic command, control and communication systems, up to 4 personnel
• Reconnaissance: vehicle equipped for light infantry, reconnaissance and Air Force security missions, up to 4 personnel.

2 door

Single-extended cab with a flat-bed cargo area measuring; L: 2,000 mm (79 in) x W: 2,400 mm (94 in). The vehicle has a crew of 2–3 and has a kerb weight of 6,800 kg (14,991 lb) with a rated cargo load of 3,000 kg (6,614 lb). The load bed is designed to accommodate four 1000mm × 1200mm (40" x 48") NATO standard military pallets or a single tricon (one-third ISO 20 ft) container. ^{[26] [29]}

Proposed variants

Border Protection

Dual cab with a crew of four to six, various equipment options including force protection radar, surveillance and communications systems. ^[30]

Special Operations Vehicle

Dual cab manned by a crew of four to six with up to three weapon systems: ^{[31] [32]}

• Front co-driver swing mount;
• Roof mounted manual gunring or remote weapon station; and/or
• Rear-facing swing mount.

Options included full doors, half doors, windscreen and scalable racking system for payload. ^[31]

Etymology

The Hawkei is named after Acanthophis hawkei, ^[33] a species of death adder. In turn, the snake is named after former Prime Minister of Australia Bob Hawke. ^[34]

Operators

Current operators

  Australia (1,100 ordered)

The Australian Army awarded a contract to manufacture 1,100 Hawkei. ^[35] As of June 2023, 423 were delivered. ^[36] And as of January 2024, Thales announced that the 1,000^th lifted off the production line in Bendigo. ^[37]

Potential operators

  Canada

The Canadian Army is looking for a successor of the Mercedes G-Wagon and Chevrolet Silverado under the Light Utility Vehicle (LUV) project.

The project has a budget of $250 to 499 million Canadian dollars, it is expected to be implemented in 2027 or 2028, and the delivery to start in 2028 or 2029, until 2031 or 2032. ^[38]

Several vehicles are being considered.

• Roshel probably with the Senator which is already being manufactured in Canada, and being supplied by Canada to Ukraine. ^[39]
• Thales Hawkei which was observed ongoing testing in Canada in April 2020. ^[40]

  Japan

On August 5, 2022, it was reported in Japan that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries may manufacture the Hawkei under licence from Thales in case the contract is awarded to them for the JGSDF. ^[41] It's marketed to replace the Komatsu LAV. ^[42] The Hawkei and the Mowag Eagle V were ordered in limited quantity for trials in 2023, and were observed on public roads in Japan. ^[43]

  United Kingdom

Thales UK is offering the Bushmaster and the Hawkei for the Land Mobility Programme. ^[44]

The Hawkei would be part of the Light Protected Mobility category, whose role would consist of command and liaison, command and control, patrol tasks, ISTAR, GBAD, CBRN, tactical support and utility. ^{[45] [46]} This category will replace the Stormer HVM, FV430 Bulldog, Iveco LMV (Panther) and the Foxhound.

Evaluation only

  France and   Belgium

THE VBAE programme (Véhicule Blindé d’Aide à Engagement) is a future light armoured vehicle in collaboration between France and Belgium. ^[47] For the French Army, it will replace the VBL.

The Thales Hawkei was one of the competitors. ^[48]

In December 2023 OCCAR signed a cooperation agreement with Arquus, Nexter (KNDS France) and John Cockerill to pre-design a contender for the VBAE programme. ^[49] In July 2024, the development was approved and therefore, unless major changes, the Scarabee will become the VBAE. ^[50]

  Poland

The Thales Hawkei was one of the four finalists of the Pegaz Programme. This programme was initially planned in two phases. The first phase intended to equip the special operations forces and the military police with 4×4 to participate in missions such as patrol, intervention, counter-terrorism and reconnaissance scenarios. ^[51] In the longer run, the winner of the competition was intended to become the new multi-purpose 4×4 of the Polish Army.

The pre-selected vehicles were the Fortress Mk2 (French), Thales Hawkei (Australia), Patriot II (Polish / Czech) and Tur V.

In 2021, the programme was cancelled. ^[52] This programme could have resulted in an initial purchase of 50 vehicles, and as many as 700 over the long term. ^[53]

See also

• List of armoured fighting vehicles by country

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hawkei.

• Hawkei - official Hawkei website.
  • Datasheet - Command - official Hawkei brochure.
  • Datasheet - Utility - official Hawkei brochure.
• Thales Protected Mobility - official manufacturer dedicated website.