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The Australian government has confirmed it will supply 3,500 Australian Combat Assault Rifles, manufactured by Thales Australia, for the Papua New Guinea Defence Force.
The supply selection was revealed during a Senate estimates discussion between Western Australian senator Tyron Whitten and Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group Deputy Secretary Chris Deeble on 11 February.
The government had previously pledged to supply 5.56mm Australian-made automatic rifles to the PNGDF as part of a larger $35 million defence aid package in October last year.
The modern weapons are considered part of the new PNG–Australia Mutual Defence Treaty, also known as the Pukpuk Treaty, and are intended to enhance PNGDF’s operational readiness.
“We’re working through those 3,500. They would be manufactured in the Lithgow facility, which will provide ongoing manufacturing of that capability. It’s the ACAR weapon, which is a Thales-developed weapon,” according to Deeble.
“We will be using our facility. This is a sovereign capability that we maintain, supported by Thales, who have been in charge of that facility for a number of years. They provide the Steyr weapon and have provided that to the ADF and other component parts for a number of our weapons, including Mag 58 and others.
“The answer is that we’ll be working with Thales, maintaining that sovereign capability in Lithgow.”
Australian Combat Assault Rifles (ACAR) have allegedly already been tested by members of the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Defence Force’s 2nd Commando Regiment.
The PNGDF has previously used similar standard configuration M16A2 assault rifles and even Australian-made L1A1 SLR rifles, compared to the ADF’s 5.56mm NATO-chambered EF88 bullpup-style rifles.
Senator Whitten questioned why the contract was not put out to tender for other firearms manufacturers, including small-to-medium enterprises.
“My questioning is probably more around small Australian manufacturers, given that Thales is not small or Australian,” he said.
