Eurosatory 2012 : Thales Brings Hawkei to Europe

Thales Australia used the Eurosatory exhibition in Paris on 11 June to display its Hawkei light protected vehicle in Europe for the first time.

Developed for an Australian Defence Force (ADF) requirement for 1,300 new vehicles to replace its current Land Rover fleet, the 7 tonne Hawkei is designed to be easily deployable but still providing high levels of protection.

Chris Jenkins, Thales Australia’s CEO, told reporters that in delivering six Hawkei prototypes as part of Australia’s LAND 121 phase 4 programme, the company was providing a tactical vehicle with the same protection levels of the Bushmaster protected mobility vehicle.


‘This has the highest level of protection for a seven-tonne vehicle. What we have been able to achieve is a level of survivability and protection that you get with a 15-tonne vehicle like the Bushmaster. We have realty taken that as our baseline,’ Jenkins said.


Australia had signed an agreement with the US Army to provide funding into its Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) programme, but in December 2011 decided to move forward with the Hawkei instead.

The vehicle features a B-kit armour application developed by Plasan, which can be installed in less than 30 minutes, without the need to use special tools. As the crew cabin is a steel hull bolted together, it can be reconfigured and upgraded without changing the shape of the vehicle.


The vehicle on display features the Vehicle Electronic Architecture (VEA), which is a modular, open architecture developed as a joint development programme between Thales in France, the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Australia. 

Paul Harris, director of sales and marketing for protected vehicles, said the six prototypes would be delivered to the ADF by August next year for further evaluation.


The vehicles will be produced at Thales’ Bendigo, Victoria, facility, where Bushmaster production is currently expected to carry through to 2015. Of the 1,300, 700 will be the four door variant with room for five/six and 600 in utility configuration.

Harris noted that the vehicle has been qualified with a gross vehicle weight of 10-tonnes, providing scope for future weight growth.


He highlighted the vehicle’s unique power train, which places the engine and transmission side-by-side in the front of the vehicle, preventing the transmission being forced into the cabin in the event of an IED blast. This provides more internal volume and means the only components under the vehicle are one drive shaft and the exhaust.


The hull, meanwhile, is in a shallow V, which both absorbs and deflects the effects of an IED blast.