Thales has signed a contract that will see it supply its Sotas Lite crew intercom system for the vehicles being delivered to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) under Land 121 Phase 3B project, the company announced on 9 April.
The contract for the C4I system was issued by Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles Australia, prime contractor on the project. Thales in Australia will conduct design activities for the C4I system that will be installed in vehicles supplied by Rheinmetall, integrating customer furnished radios and systems into the intercom system.
Thales in the Netherlands will supply the Sotas Lite system. The first of these systems were installed in the 2009/2012 Australian Bushmaster programme. This will be the third platform in the ADF in which Sotas will be integrated.
Under this project, Rheinmetall is contracted to supply to the ADF up to 2,536 heavy and medium category logistics trucks. The Phase 3B fleet will include protected vehicles for tactical training and operational deployment as well as unprotected vehicles solely for tactical training.