Rheinmetall, the largest supplier of military vehicles to the Australian Defence Force has submitted the company’s Lynx Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) best and final offer for the Australian Department of Defence Land 400 Phase 3 Mounted Close Combat Capability tender. Rheinmetall is one of two competing companies involved in the tender for this procurement project.

Rheinmetall Defence Australia Managing Director, Gary Stewart said the Lynx is a next generation tracked, digitised and highly protected Infantry Fighting Vehicle and offers a step-change in Army’s capabilities: «Lynx sets the new standard and offers unmatched levels of survivability, mobility, lethality, knowledge and growth. Importantly, Lynx is ready to protect Australians in the field and defeat any adversary. Lynx is fitted with the Rheinmetall Lance turret for precise and lethal effects and offers an integrated battle management system. Designed for close combat operations, the extensive family of Lynx vehicles is modular. Lynx can be easily configured and reconfigured, to all 10 roles required by the Army».

Rheinmetall has developed the Lynx with a growth path to meet continually evolving military needs throughout its anticipated 40-year life.

Submitting the best and final offer represents the final deliverable of the two-year Risk Management Activity (RMA) undertaken by the Department of Defence. Involving 12 months of rigorous testing by Army, Rheinmetall has been impressed with the professional and flexible approach taken by Defence in response to COVID.

«The fact that Army and Defence’s Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group has completed perhaps the most comprehensive testing in the world of these IFVs is outstanding», said Mr. Stewart. «The testing and associated working group discussions have mitigated a number of risks, confirmed vehicle and company performance, and improved the access for more Australian companies to be involved in this program».

Mr. Stewart said that the company’s offer also included a «special project» that was sure to pique the interest of not only the Australian Defence Force, but international export markets as well.

«Incorporating a great deal of engineering design and innovation, I am very much looking forward to unveiling the Rheinmetall special project», he added.

Mr. Stewart said that Rheinmetall’s demonstrated commitment to Australian Industry Capability (AIC) through the Land 121 and Land 400 Phase 2 programs will continue to expand for the Lynx program: «The Australian Army will benefit from the Lynx IFV that will be designed, built and supported from Rheinmetall’s Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence, with an expanded Australia-wide military vehicle industry network. In addition to the engineering of the system design Rheinmetall undertook in Australia with our key Australian partners, we are continuing to identify more Australian companies to supply technologies into Lynx, as part of our ongoing ‘design to manufacture in Australia’ activities».

«Today, we have well in excess of 100 small to medium enterprises that are manufacturing parts for Lynx, thereby providing employment and economic growth opportunities across regional and capital cities in Australia», Mr. Stewart added. «Rheinmetall’s bid will see the Lynx sustained and enhanced locally throughout its service life, building on Rheinmetall’s existing employment base which supports hundreds of high-technology design and manufacturing jobs in fields as diverse as electro-optics, weapon systems, vehicle and turret manufacturing, armour systems and simulation. The Lynx’s Lance turret; already in manufacture for the Australian Boxer CRV program and an export customer, provides high degrees of commonality and interoperability for the soldier. Allowing rapid transition across platforms, a common L turret would simplify Army’s training system and reduce in-service support costs, providing the customer with tangible benefits from day one. Manufactured at Rheinmetall’s Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence (MILVEHCOE) in Redbank, Queensland, the company will provide whole of fleet management, training and through-life support of Lynx».

NATO member Hungary orders 218 Lynx Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) from Rheinmetall worth more than €2 billion.

Hungary is the first NATO and EU member nation to order Rheinmetall’s newly developed Lynx infantry fighting vehicle. This important contract represents a major breakthrough in the global defence market for the Düsseldorf-based technology group’s innovative new combat vehicle.

The Hungarian Ministry of Defence has awarded Rheinmetall an order to supply tracked armoured vehicles and related products and services with a total value of more than €2 billion. The contractual agreement, which has now been signed in Budapest, encompasses 218 Lynx KF41 infantry fighting vehicles and nine Buffalo armoured recovery vehicles. The contract includes additional products and services such as simulators, training and instruction, plus an initial supply of spare parts as well as maintenance support. The Lynx IFVs will be equipped with a manned 30-mm Lance turret, likewise developed by Rheinmetall.

Looking ahead, Rheinmetall sees further potential orders stemming from this contract. Given an expected service life of several decades, the Lynx will require spare parts and regular maintenance in order to remain operationally ready.

During a first phase of production, Hungary is to receive forty-six Lynx infantry fighting vehicles as well as nine Buffalo armoured recovery vehicles, all built in Germany; delivery is to be complete by the start of 2023.

In the second production phase, an additional 172 Lynx vehicles built in Hungary will meet in full the needs of the country’s armed forces.

To this end, the Hungarian government and Rheinmetall agreed in August 2020 to establish a joint venture responsible for creating a Lynx production facility in Hungary, to be financed by a local company.

As Armin Papperger, chairman of the executive board of Rheinmetall AG, explains: «The Lynx’s market breakthrough is a major success for us. And the fact that we were able to convince Hungary – an important EU and NATO partner – to choose this innovative vehicle makes this success all the greater. In making this forward-looking procurement decision, Hungary’s top political and military officials have demonstrated real leadership. Not only does the move place Hungary at the forefront of European army technology. It reaffirms the Hungarian government’s commitment to being a reliable, more militarily effective partner of its NATO allies, a policy which it is pursuing with systematic energy».

«We greatly appreciate the Hungarian government’s trust in us which this order implies», declares Armin Papperger. «Rheinmetall is very proud to be able to make an important contribution to the sustained expansion of Hungary’s defence technology capabilities in cooperation with local industry. We look forward to working together with our Hungarian friends and partners, and will do everything in our power to assure the long-term success of this venture».

Rheinmetall will hold a majority stake and take the lead in the joint venture company to be set up in order to produce the Lynx in Hungary. In the process, Hungary will make a material investment in the project in the form of a newly constructed production facility. The resulting centre of excellence for the development, production and maintenance of armoured vehicles will create an important nucleus for the Hungarian defence industry. This constellation, which involves a local production partner in Hungary, will ensure that a substantial share of the added value deriving from the procurement project takes place in the customer country.

For Hungary, this procurement order represents a big step in its efforts to introduce a new generation of military equipment, with key systems that meet the latest NATO standards. The Lynx is currently competing in similar procurement programmes in the neighbouring Czech Republic as well as in Australia. It is foreseen that a majority of the Lance turrets for the first phase will be produced and supplied from the Rheinmetall Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Lynx – modular, flexible, future-proof

Less than five years elapsed between the initial idea for a new infantry fighting vehicle and the breakthrough order, including formulation of a strategy and the concept and development phases – an impressive feat for an inhouse-financed combat vehicle in a highly demanding market segment where prolonged procurement cycles are the norm.

The Lynx concept embraces a complete vehicle family, consisting of a chassis module and flexible mission kits in numerous variants. This means that the basic vehicle can be configured as an infantry fighting vehicle, an armoured personnel carrier, a command vehicle or field ambulance. Moreover, switching from one configuration to another can be accomplished in a matter of hours. Thanks to the uniformity of the basic vehicle, the system will result in substantially lower lifecycle costs, while simultaneously letting military users adapt to changing tactical requirements and/or leverage new capabilities. Outstanding survivability, mobility and lethality characterize the Lynx, as do excellent growth potential, including in terms of its total weight.

Its spacious interior is unsurpassed by any vehicle in its class, assuring the operational effectiveness of its three crew members and up to nine infantry dismounts.

The Lynx shields its occupants from the full spectrum of battlefield threats, including explosions, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), direct and indirect fire, cluster munitions and antitank guided missiles. With its hard-hitting combat effectiveness and excellent off-road mobility, the Lynx will give tomorrow’s armed forces a decisive edge in complex military operations at every level of intensity in all kinds of environments, overcoming multiple threats and securing favourable outcomes.

Rheinmetall Lynx KF41 at IDET 2019