Breaking News Rheinmetall Delivers First Boxer 8x8 CRVs to the Australian Army Rheinmetall recently delivered the first 25 Boxer 8x8 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles (CRV) to the Australian Army under the $5.2 billion LAND 400 Phase 2 Mounted Combat Reconnaissance Capability project. Rheinmetall will deliver a total of 211 Boxer 8x8 Vehicles in different versions. They will replace the Army’s Australian Light Armoured Vehicles (ASLAV) under LAND 400 Phase 2. Delivery of the first 25 vehicles enables Army to continue towards Initial Operating Capability on schedule as Rheinmetall moves into the next phase of the LAND 400 Phase 2 program. Rheinmetall Defence Australia Managing Director Gary Stewart said Boxer’s levels of survivability and mobility was proving a game changer for Australia’s armoured cavalry. “Boxer is now enabling the capabilities that allow Army to fight, survive and win on the modern, complex battlefields of today and tomorrow,” Stewart said. “And Rheinmetall is simultaneously delivering early combat vehicle capability to the Australian Defence Force while creating a sovereign industrial capability in combat vehicle design and manufacture.” Stewart said delivery of these initial vehicles was only possible by taking advantage of the current production lines in Germany, and using this approach as part of technology transfer activities to ensure Australian workers and suppliers become familiar with manufacturing techniques for highly complex military vehicles. Rheinmetall Defence Australia has over 30 Australians currently living and working in Germany, working at Rheinmetall sites and learning from German colleagues.
Image: Boxer 8x8 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles (CRV).
8
Australian Welding
Precision Metal Group Sparks a Career in Welding for School Students Precision Metal Group (PMG) recently hosted a school holiday ‘welding camp’ at their workshop in Wetherill Park, Sydney. The experience ignited interest in engineering jobs from students and their parents. The ‘welding camp’ concept will be replicated at high schools across Western Sydney as part of a massive industry-led recruitment program aimed at encouraging school students into engineering trades. “We’re running a school holiday program for everyone in high school—from Year 7 onwards—to give them an understanding of the career path they can start working towards...[it’s giving] our young people hands-on experience in industry,” said PMG Chief Executive, Jason Elias. “The welding camp is engaging schools, parents, and students...[it’s helping] students to understand there is a broad industry waiting to employ them soon as they are ready to be on the job.” Mobile engineering workshops will soon roll out in high schools without available facilities. PMG is retro-fitting a shipping container with welding and fabricating equipment that will be dropped off at participating high schools for a maximum of two weeks. The mobile workshop will be moving from school to school across Sydney and regional New South Wales. “We will be on a roadshow towards the end of this year to expose our students to hands-on experience with the virtual reality of welding and fabricating to give them a taste of what an engineering and manufacturing concept is,” Elias said.
Image: PMG’s school holiday ‘welding camp’.
