The vehicles, which include a Challenger snow tractor and Pathfinder snow groomers, were carried aboard the C-17A Globemaster III on separate missions from Hobart International Airport.

The mission was supported by the RAAF Combat Support Group in Hobart and capabilities from Antarctica’s Casey Station, including a Navy meteorologist attached at Casey.

Operation Southern Discovery will provide researchers with critical data on the world’s climate, and will require a 1,200-kilometre journey to acquire ice core samples. The vehicles will assist in building a portable inland station for the operation. 

Wing Commander Dion Wright, Commander of the Australian Contingent for Operation Southern Discovery, said, “Support from Defence has provided AAD with an overland traverse capability, enabling the premier science project in Antarctica, the retrieval of the million-year ice core.

“This has been accomplished across complex and challenging seasons, which have been affected also by COVID-19 restrictions

“The feedback from the million-year ice core project team is that it could not envisage the overland traverse vehicles being delivered with the challenges they’ve faced.”

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Anthony Hull, who oversees the Australian Antarctic Division’s Traverse Project, noted, “The speed at which this procession will travel is approximately 10 kilometres an hour.

“To do this for approximately 1,200 kilometres, you’re looking at about 12 to 14 days of solid travel.”

[Related: RAAF to join US, Japanese Air Forces for Exercise Cope North 21]

Liam Garman

Editor – Defence and Security, Momentum Media

Liam began his career as a speech writer at New South Wales Parliament before working for world leading campaigns and research agencies in Sydney and Auckland. Throughout his career, Liam has managed and executed international media and communications campaigns spanning politics, business, industrial relations and infrastructure. He’s since shifted his attention to researching and writing extensively on geopolitics and defence. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney and a Masters in Strategy and Security with Excellence from UNSW Canberra, with a thesis on post-truth, postmodernism and disinformation operations.

 

Reach out to Liam via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via LinkedIn.