Announced in 2019 as part of the AU$900 million–AU$1.3 billion LAND 8116 Phase 1 project, Australia will acquire a fleet of 42 AS9 Huntsman vehicles and AS10 armoured ammunition resupply vehicles to be built at Hanwha Defense Australia's state-of-the-art facility currently under construction in Geelong.
The Hanwha AS9 Huntsman is a bespoke design developed specifically for Australia based on Hanwha's K9 howitzer currently in service with South Korea, India, Norway, Poland, Finland, Turkey, and Estonia.
The Huntsman will be built with a 52-caliber 155mm gun system, in service with multiple nations and compatible with all standard NATO 155mm munitions.
The AS9 has a maximum range of fire of 30 kilometres with standard high explosive shell and 40 kilometres with rocket-assisted shell, with a maximum rate of fire of six rounds per minute.
The AS10 armoured automatic resupply vehicle is an Australianised variant of the South Korean K10 ammunition resupply vehicle. This vehicle was designed to support the AS9 howitzers, using the same tracked chassis as the howitzer and leverages a fully automated reloading process that can be performed without exposing the crew under enemy fire or in the contaminated areas.
Several Australia-based companies have been tasked with supporting Hanwha's project, including Kongsberg Defence Australia, elmTek, Penske Australia, HIFraser, CBG Systems, TAE Aerospace, Bisalloy Steels, Thales Australia, Sigma Bravo (a KBR company), and Elphinstone.
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