Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, center, Minister of Defense Acquisition Program Administration Kang Eun-ho, third from left, and Hanwha Defense CEO Son Jae-il, second from right, shovel sand with participants in the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hanwha Armored Vehicle Center of Excellence in Geelong, Victoria, Friday. Yonhap

By Park Jae-hyuk

Hanwha Defense held a ceremony last Friday to celebrate the beginning of the construction of the Hanwha Armored Vehicle Center of Excellence (H-ACE) in Geelong, a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria.

The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by around 200 politicians, government officials and defense industry insiders from Korea and Australia, including Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Korean Minister of Defense Acquisition Program Administration Kang Eun-ho, Hanwha Defense CEO Son Jae-il and Hanwha Defense Australia Managing Director Richard Cho.

According to Hanwha Defense, H-ACE will be built on 150,000 square meters of land at Avalon Airport by 2024, along with a manufacturing plant on 32,000 square meters of land, with a 1.5-kilometer-long running track, a testing ground for river crossing equipment, a shooting range, an R&D center and factories for Australian subcontractors.

In accordance with the company's 1-trillion-won ($813 million) contract with the Australian government last December, the new facility will produce 30 AS9 Huntsman self-propelled howitzers and 15 AS10 armored ammunition resupply vehicles by 2027 for the Australian army.

The AS9 Huntsman is an Australian version of Hanwha Defense's K9 Thunder, while the AS10 is an Australian version of the company's K10.

Depending on the outcome of the bidding for Australia's LAND 400 Phase 3 infantry fighting vehicle project this year, Hanwha Defense is also considering producing its Redback armored vehicle at H-ACE.

"Based on the geopolitical position and strategic cooperation between Korea and Australia, the production center will serve as a secondary supply chain for Korean defense products in the future," Hanwha Defense Australia's managing director said, with the expectation that the new plant will become a "bridgehead" for defense product exports to the Five Eyes, the intelligence alliance comprised of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.

In addition, the Australian government is anticipating H-ACE to boost the regional economy in the medium to long term, creating around 300 new jobs in Geelong.

Late last month, Geelong's city government signed a partnership with the municipal government of Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, where Hanwha Defense's factories are located, increasing the likelihood of Korea and Australia cooperating further in the defense industry.

Hanwha Defense's CEO vowed to continue making efforts to increase Korea's defense product exports, expressing his gratitude to the Korean government and military for supporting the construction of the new factory in Australia.

"Hanwha Defense's production facility in Australia is very meaningful in that it means a domestic defense systems company has an overseas production base for the first time," he said.