Defence

Defence Materiel Organisation

ASLAVs in the spotlight

ASLAVs on operations in the Middle East.
Photo provided by Public Affairs

By Sarah Blakers

The Australian Defence Force's fleet of Australian Light Armoured Vehicles (ASLAVs) has been in the spotlight recently with the Minister for Defence, the Hon Dr Brendan Nelson MP announcing that the Government has provided first pass approval for further enhancements to crew protection.

In addition, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) recently delivered a positive report on the management of the ASLAV Program.

Over the past 15 years, the Defence Materiel Organisation's ASLAV Program has successfully delivered 257 new and upgraded vehicles to Army.

The recent completion of a substantial upgrade of 113 ASLAVs, with the last two vehicles rolling off the upgrade line in Adelaide in October, ensures that the entire fleet is state of the art and that our soldiers have the best equipment possible. During this upgrade, production was suspended for several months while additional enhancements were made to vehicles deploying on operations for the Al Muthanna Task Group (AMTG) to Southern Iraq in 2005. This time was later recovered to successfully deliver on the original schedule.

The first pass approval for further enhancements, as recently announced by the Minister, will provide crews even greater protection from a range of threats, such as improvised explosive devices, landmines and shoulder-fired anti-armour weapons. According to Dr Nelson, the system development and demonstration phase will commence shortly to evaluate a variety of technology options for enhancing the survivability of the ASLAV vehicles.

"The enhancements to be considered include increased landmine and ballistic protection, multi-spectral camouflage systems, refurbishment or replacement of the power pack to enable the vehicle to be supported through the life of type, weight reduction measures and electronic self-protection systems," Dr Nelson said.

The ASLAVs are currently based in Brisbane and Darwin, with a number deployed in the Middle East area of operations. The ANAO report described the value the ASLAVs add to our ground forces, stating 'the ASLAVs have proven to be significant addition to the Army's capability'.

The ASLAV has proven itself as a dependable armoured vehicle on operations. It was used in East Timor and is currently being used in Iraq and Afghanistan. The 62 ASLAVs deployed to the Middle East today are the best-equipped and most capable light armoured vehicle in their class. The vehicles and their crew are also well protected with enhanced ballistic steel armour and spall liners to improve protection against blast, bullets and fragmentation.

The ASLAV Program is also responsible for the sustainment of the in-service fleet that maximises operational availability and continues to improve the capability. This work began in 2005 when the Program delivered the first group of 40 enhanced ASLAVs for the deployment to Iraq and continued to provide support overseas.

The vehicles in the ASLAV fleet have also achieved impressive availability rates of greater than 90 per cent. This has ensured that training and operations can be conducted effectively at all times.

The ASLAV Program, within the DMO and working closely with defence industry, has delivered this capability to meet the needs of soldiers in the field within budget and within schedule.

All of these achievements are acknowledged in the recent ANAO report, with a single recommendation offered by the auditors that DMO review measures for document management and control, which Defence has agreed.

The future of the ASLAVs looks bright with the fleet set to provide an effective capability to at least 2021, ensuring that our land forces have sufficient protection and mobility to provide a clear advantage during operations.

Sarah Blakers is Senior Communications Officer, DMO.

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