An Australian Army AS9 Huntsman self-propelled howitzer test-fires a practice round at the Proof and Experimental Establishment in Port Wakefield, South Australia. (Commonwealth of Australia)
South Korea's Hanwha Aerospace has delivered an initial batch of its Huntsman family of vehicles to Australia, the Department of Defence (DoD) in Canberra told Janes on 31 January.
A DoD spokesperson said two AS9 155 mm/52 calibre tracked self-propelled howitzers (SPHs) and one AS10 armoured ammunition resupply vehicle (AARV) were delivered to Hanwha Aerospace's local subsidiary, Hanwha Defence Australia (HDA), in late 2024.
The vehicles, collectively known as Huntsman, were delivered under a contract HDA secured with the DoD in 2021 for a total of 30 AS9s and 15 AS10s for the Australian Army under Land 8116 Phase 1 – otherwise known as the Protected Mobile Fires programme.
Under this AUD1 billion (USD622 million) deal, Hanwha Aerospace was contracted to build the initial two AS9s and first AS10 at its facility in Changwon, South Korea, with the remainder to be constructed at a new HDA facility in Australia.
The DoD spokesperson did not provide a schedule for the delivery of the vehicles to the Australian Army, but said evaluations of the platforms would be conducted before supply. “Hanwha Defence Australia is currently undertaking comprehensive testing of the three vehicles,” the spokesperson said.
The Huntsman vehicles have been procured for the Australian Army to bolster its protected mobile fires capability and provide mobility, lethality, and protection support to armoured vehicles and other ground forces.
The vehicles are also intended as a counter-battery capability to engage, neutralise, and destroy an adversary's artillery systems before they can be employed against Australian or allied land forces.
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