Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Materiel) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Fadden for his question. The JLTV program is a United States Army led multiservice initiative to develop a family of future light tactical vehicles. The program aims to deliver around 60,000 vehicles to the United States Army and Marine Corps. To date, as the member has said, Australia has been participating in the technology development phase of the program as part of LAND 121 phase 4. LAND 121 phase 4 will provide the Australian Defence Force with a light, protected mobility vehicle which will serve as the platform for specialist roles such as reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and command and control. Our participation in the JLTV program commenced in January 2009. The cost to date of that participation is around $40 million. Participation in the technology development phase has not committed Australia to a particular way forward for the project, and that decision will be a matter for government. The technology development phase is now complete. Defence is now negotiating with the US government to determine the potential benefits and costs of Australian participation in the next phase, the engineering development phase, of the JLTV program. This consideration will include the compatibility of potential JLTV solutions with Australian requirements and the schedule implications of participating in the program. Part of this consideration as well would include exploring avenues for Australian industry participation in the overall JLTV program.

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