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Monday, 4 July 2011
Page: 7571

Defence Equipment

(Question No. 383)

Mr Robert asked the Minister for Defence Materiel, in writing, on 25 May 2011:

In respect of

(a) 105mm Hamel, and (b) 155mm M198 Howitzer, artillery pieces:

(i) how many are currently in the Australian Defence Force's fleet;

(ii) when are they due to be retired;

(iii) what are their respective end of service life dates;

(iv) can the end of service life dates be extended, if so, what would be the cost and required work; and

(v) what will happen to them once they have been replaced under LAND 17.

Mr Clare: The answer to the honourable member's question is as follows:

(a) In respect of the 105mm Hamel artillery pieces:

(i) There are currently 101 Hamel guns in the fleet.

(ii) The Hamel fleet will be withdrawn from service in 1 Regiment and 4 Regiment from February 2012. A fleet of six Hamel guns will be held at the School of Artillery to be used in support of observation of fire courses.

(iii) The current end of service life date is 2012.

(iv) The end of service life date can be extended, however the Hamel gun will be unable to be used as part of the digitised offensive support network established by Project Land 17. The cost to continue a maintenance and spares program for a reduced fleet of 61 Hamel guns (not including the initial quantity of 40 Hamel guns being readied for disposal) is estimated to be approximately $0.5m per annum. This cost does not include training and ammunition requirements.

(v) All guns will eventually be withdrawn to Joint Logistics Unit - Victoria (Bandiana) before disposal. An initial quantity of 40 Hamel guns is being readied for disposal.

(b) In respect of the 155mm M198 Howitzer artillery pieces:

(i) There are currently 33 M198 guns in the fleet.

(ii) The final M198 guns will be withdrawn from service to coincide with the issuing of M777A2 in February 2012.

(iii) The current end of service life date is 2012.

(iv) The end of service life dates can be extended. The cost to continue a maintenance and spares program for a fleet of 33 M198 guns is estimated to be approximately $0.75m per annum. This cost does not include training and ammunition requirements. A re-build of the M198 fleet would be required if the service life was extended beyond 2015. Re-building the fleet is estimated to cost an additional $0.15m per gun commencing from 2015 at a rate of five guns per year until 2020.

(v) All guns will eventually be withdrawn to Joint Logistics Unit - Victoria (Bandiana) for long term storage. The M198 fleet is expected to be retained in long term storage until 2020.