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Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division has announced it has secured a contract with Rheinmetall Defence Australia to deliver its turret drive stabilisation system in support of the Australian Army’s Project LAND 400 Phase 2 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle (CRV).
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Under the contract, Curtiss-Wright will deliver 133 of its state-of-the-art Turret Drive Servo Systems (TDSS) and associated hand controllers to Rheinmetall.
The delivery incorporates more than 50 per cent Australian industry content (AIC), with Curtiss-Wright working alongside a team of Australian small and medium sized enterprises following initial industry engagement activities in 2018 and 2019. Under the contract, shipments are scheduled to run through Q1 2026.
"We are very proud that Rheinmetall has selected our turret drive stabilisation solution to support the Australian Army’s important Project LAND 400 Phase 2 Program,” said Lynn Bamford, president, defence and power segments.
“This contract marks a significant combat reconnaissance vehicle design win for our cost-effective, scalable Turret Drive Servo System and our commitment to incorporate local industry partners into this program.”
The products covered by the contract were designed at Curtiss-Wright’s Drive Technology facility in Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Switzerland. Under the contract, Curtiss-Wright will manufacture and produce a significant amount of TDSS power circuit boards (PCB) and chassis kits in Australia. With this strong commitment to Australian industry.
Major milestones in support of this agreement have already been achieved, including initial planning visits to Australia, which began in 2018 and continued through Q1 2020, and the first delivery of TDSS sample PCB and chassis kits to Australia.
In the next phase of the Australian supplier partner identification and evaluation process, Curtiss-Wright will assess the parts received and then enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the selected suppliers in Q2 2020, followed by contract negotiations.
After establishing the contractual baseline set, detailed knowledge transfer will commence, complemented by Curtiss-Wright’s TDSS experts, who will provide on-site support and training directly to the new Australian supplier partners at their own sites. On-site support is scheduled to run through Q4 2020. The go-live plan for series production with the Australian supplier partners is scheduled for Q1 2021.
“Curtiss-Wright believes this agreement will foster and sustain a new partner-network in Australia,” added Bamford. “In turn, we hope a strong partner-network creates an environment supporting new jobs and enables Curtiss-Wright and Rheinmetall to support LAND 400 Phase 2 with significant Australian industrial content.”
The final assembly of the products covered by this agreement will take place at Rheinmetall’s new Military Vehicle Center of Excellence (MILVEHCOE) facility in Queensland.
