Hawkei PMV-L Thales

4x4 Light Protected Mobility Vehicle Australia

The Thales Hawkei is a 4x4 light wheeled protected vehicle built by Thales on its significant experience with the Australian Bushmaster program to design this next-generation vehicle. Drawing on both international and local expertise provided by Boeing, PAC Group or Plasan, and numerous Australian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), the vehicle’s design incorporates world-leading innovative technologies. The Thales Hawkei was designed within the framework of modernization of light wheeled vehicles used by the Australian Army. The Hawkei is currently being submitted for the Australian Department of Defence's LAND 121 Phase 4 program, which will provide a Light Protected Vehicle to replace the Australian Army's Landrover fleet. Following the tradition of the Bushmaster, which is named after a deadly pit viper, the new addition is named after a stealthy species of Death Adder – Acanthophis hawkei – which is native to Australia. The new ground-breaking design meets emerging performance and capability requirements, including systems that allow the Hawkei to become a fully integrated node on the network centric battlefield. The Hawkei is designed to accommodate the future system demands of adaptive campaigning, with C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence) capabilities as a fundamental part of its DNA. An engineering mock-up of the Hawkei will be on display at Armoured Vehicles Australia in November 2009 (AVA), highlighting its internal seating layout and ground-breaking design. In August 2012, Boeing announced that its subsidiary Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) will provide Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) during the next stage of development of Thales Australia's Hawkei Protected Mobility Vehicle - Light prototypes. In October 2015, it was announced that the Australian army will order 1,100 Hawkei vehicles t replace part of the Army's aging Land Rover fleet. It is classified by the Australian Army as light protected mobility vehicles. In January 2018, it was announced that the Australian Army and Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group CASG, in charge of the military acquisition have deployed a number of new Hawkei 4x4 Light Protected Vehicles to Iraq for operational trials with Task Force Taji, a combined Australian-New Zealand military training force located at the Taji Military Complex northwest of Baghdad. In September 2020, the Australian Department of Defense has announced that Army’s new Australian-designed and built Hawkei 4x4 protected vehicle is ready to enter full-rate production at Thales’ Protected Vehicles facility in Bendigo, Victoria. In September 2020, it was announced that the Hawkei was selected as one of the four candidates for the Pegaz program of the Polish army to acquire 4x4 wheeled armored vehicles. 

Hawkei Thales variants

- Command Post: Dual cab manned by a crew of four to six, weapons system options including up to 12.7mm guns or 40mm grenade systems in various mounts with a remotely operated option.
- Border Protection: Dual cab manned by a crew of four to six, various equipment options including force protection radar, surveillance and communications systems.
- Special Operations Vehicle: Dual cab manned by a crew of four to six with up to three weapon systems. Open top architecture.
- Utility Cargo: Single-extended cab with a flat-bed cargo area measuring; L: 2,000 mm (79 in) x W: 2,400 mm (94 in). The vehicle is manned by a crew of 2-3 and has a curb weight of 6,800 kg (14,991 lb) with a rated cargo load of 3,000 kg (6,614 lb). The load bed is designed to accommodate four 1000mm × 1200mm (40" x 48") NATO standard military pallets or a single tricon (one-third ISO 20 ft) container.
- Surveillance and Reconnaissance:
- Electronic Warfare: