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Hawkei in production
Hawkei in production
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BY CHRISTOPHER F FOSS
Thales Australia (Stand 07-C04, Australian Pavilion) has confirmed that its Hawkei ‘New Generation Protected Vehicle’ is now in lowrate production for the Australian Army. About 70 Hawkei vehicles have already been delivered and full-rate production is expected to start later this year.
Hawkei is the replacement for the army’s unprotected Land Rovers. It features a large central airconditioned protected cell, which seats five in the four-door variant and three in the two door variants. All variants have an unprotected cargo area at the rear. Australian Army Hawkei are in right-hand drive configuration, while for the export market, a left-hand drive vehicle has been built and tested and is being shown at IDEX.
Typical gross vehicle weight is 10,400kg, of which 3,000kg is payload. It can also tow a trailer weighing 4,000kg. Hawkei can be carried slung under the CH-47F transport helicopter or internally in the C-130 Hercules. It is the first Australian armoured vehicle to be fitted with a generic vehicle architecture-compliant vehicle electronic architecture, which will make for easier integration of future subsystems. A wide range of weapons can be mounted on the roof, from protected weapon stations or remote weapon stations armed with machine guns to cannon and anti-tank guided weapons.
Thales Australia continues to market the combat-proven Bushmaster, the latest version of which is the improved Bushmaster MR6.
Korea and UAE team up on UAVs
BY DAVID DONALD
Abu Dhabi-based Calidus has partnered with Korean Air to offer a range of UAVs to the UAE and regional market. The Korean airline’s Aerospace Business Division is working on several UAV designs, and is showing its KUS-FT fixed-wing UAV (pictured) at the Calidus exhibition (Stand 04-C15) in the UAE Pavilion. The two companies have been in discussion for around a month, resulting in the marketing arrangement, which is hoped to be expanded into co-development.
The partnership is evidence of a growing UAE-Korea partnership in defence products, which has already seen EARTH and LIG Nex 1 form Emirates Systems & Support Services (ESSS) to promote and produce a range of weapons. The ESSS/LIG Nex 1 LOGIR imaging-infrared guided 70mm rocket is one of the weapon options being displayed on the Calidus B-250 light attack aircraft.
Korean Air’s UAV range covers six programmes. The KUS-FC is a next-generation stealthy unmanned combat air vehicle with flyingwing configuration and an internal weapons bay. KUS-FS is a strategic medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV, while KUS-FT is a 150kg tactical UAV that is in use with the Republic of Korea Army and Marine Corps. KUS-VH is a large unmanned helicopter, while KUS- VT is a tilt-rotor design. Finally, KUS-HD is a 38kg UAV with eight rotors in four pairs.
ADS from Eastern Europe
The South African Denel Vehicle Systems RG41 (8x8) armoured fighting vehicle is being shown at IDEX on Stand 12-C40, fitted with two pods of the Zaslon hard kill active defence system (ADS) developed in Ukraine.
This is being shown mounted on the front and one side of the RG41 platform to provide a high level of protection against incoming threats, such as rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank guided weapons fitted with a single or tandem high-explosive anti-tank warhead. The Zaslon ADS also protects against gun-launched artillery and tank projectiles with a muzzle velocity of up to 1,200m/s.
The system consists of a control panel located in the vehicle, which in the case of a main battle tank, for example, would be in the turret, and a number of armour protected modules that contain two rounds of the countermeasure. Each of the countermeasures is fitted with a millimetre-wave radar sensor, which continuously emits signals within an arc of 150-180° in azimuth and -6° to +20° in elevation.
Once a potential threat is detected at a range of between 1.2m and 2.5m, the countermeasure is activated and emits a dense cloud of fast-moving splinters in the trajectory path of the incoming threat, thereby creating a 360° kill zone. Once the first round is disposed of, the back-up munition is automatically deployed.
Each of the modules weighs 120-200kg, depending on whether it is fully protected and, according to the manufacturer, it could also be integrated with an explosive reactive armour package.
