Rheinmetall is building on the maintenance and support partnership established with RGM Maintenance Townsville for the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF’s) Medium Heavy Capability by joining with defence prime contractor Supacat to ensure a maintenance footprint across Australia.
Nathan Poyner, managing director for Rheinmetall Defence Australia, said the signing of the deed of agreement in 2022 was the first step in providing original equipment manufacturer (OEM)-supported maintenance in regions where the vehicles are located.
“These new strategic partnerships aim to reduce total cost of ownership to the Commonwealth and bring ongoing secure jobs, training and sovereign industrial capability to the regions,” Poyner was quoted as saying in a company press release. “The deed brings together both organisations of working in region on the Medium Heavy Capability services for logistic vehicles as part of the Australian Defence Force’s Land 121 programme at RGM premises in Townsville.”
“Recently, Rheinmetall has added two additional partners: RGM Maintenance Darwin and Supacat Perth – a world-leading design and technology organisation specialising in high mobility defence vehicles,” said Poyner.
“These partnerships grow Rheinmetall’s ability to support the Commonwealth of Australia and allied nations, in regions where HX logistic vehicles are located with specialist expertise through the deployment of field service representatives (FSRs) and assistance from technical experts,” he explained. “The agreements allow our partners to provide value-for-money light- and medium-grade repairs and FSR-supported heavy-grade repair where the vehicles are located with OEM support.”
“Rheinmetall also gains valuable insights in to how vehicles are performing by utilising these existing trade repair relationships,” Poyner added.
Poyner said that representatives from both organisations participated in a course delivered by Rheinmetall trainers at facilities in regional Victoria on the HX truck platform focusing on systems, documentation and the associated diagnostic tools across all HX truck variants from the 40M to the 45M Heavy Recovery.
Bruce Tait, managing director for Supacat’s Asia-Pacific business, stated, “We are delighted to continue to expand our relationship with Rheinmetall to include supporting the HX logistics vehicles from our Support Centre in Perth.
“Rheinmetall’s training and support programme means that we are confident of being able to support the Rheinmetall vehicles with the same responsiveness and competency that we apply to our own vehicles. Our focus remains on continuously evolving the capability and availability of [the Australian] Army’s vehicle fleets as it transitions to a littoral and amphibious force,” Tait added.
RGM Maintenance Business Development Manager Mick Ferguson noted that RGM has heavy vehicle operations throughout Queensland and the Northern Territory and has a 20+ year history of service provision to the ADF.
“RGM’s support to Rheinmetall reduces maintenance lead times for the ADF’s Land 121 fleet in region, putting vehicles back in the hands of ADF operators sooner,” Ferguson said.
