Hanwha has completed construction of the Hanwha Armored Vehicle Centre of Excellence in Australia

The South Korean defense giant Hanwha held an opening ceremony for its first Hanwha Armored Vehicle Centre of Excellence in Australia.

The press service of the Hanwha company reported on this.

The Hanwha Armored Vehicle Centre of Excellence (H-ACE) was opened in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, making it Hanwha’s first overseas base.

The center will primarily produce K9 tracked self-propelled howitzers and K10 ammunition resupply vehicles.

The company is expected to build thirty AS9 (K9) artillery systems and fifteen AS10 (K10) ammunition resupply vehicles.

This will strengthen the AUKUS alliance and prepare Australia’s Land Forces for future challenges in Oceania.

In addition, the base will be used to fulfill the contract for the purchase of 129 AS21 Redback infantry fighting vehicles by the Australian Army.

Their production is to begin after Australia receives prototypes of these vehicles in 2026, which will be used for study.

The Hanwha Armored Vehicle Centre of Excellence (H-ACE) is built on a plot of about 150,000 square meters. It has 11 facilities, including a main building, a production building, an assembly plant, a testing and driving area, and a firing range.

The South Korean company understands the geopolitical situation in the region, so it tries to fulfill contracts as quickly as possible and offer attractive terms to one of the AUKUS members.

Militarnyi previously reported that the South Korean company Hanwha Aerospace had signed a cooperation agreement with the Romanian National Institute for Aerospace Research.

This agreement is an attempt by the Korean company to expand cooperation with European countries and offer them its own weapons and joint research.

It is aimed not only at cooperation in researching the aerospace sector and high-precision missiles, but also at localizing potential products developed by Hanwha.

One of them could be research into the development of a joint infantry fighting vehicle with Romania based on the AS21 Redback infantry fighting vehicle.

This step will provide the Romanian defense industry with additional investments and the ability to maintain a certain number of jobs and specialists.