[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop will visit Australia from the 2nd to discuss defense industry cooperation and other matters.
Minister Lee is scheduled to hold talks with Richard Marles, Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, in Canberra on the 4th. The two ministers will meet again 54 days after their meeting on June 12 during the Singapore Asia Security Conference (Shangri-La Dialogue). They will share assessments of the security situation in the region, including the Korean Peninsula, and discuss defense and defense industry cooperation issues as follow-up measures to the bilateral summit held at the NATO summit in June.
On the 5th, Minister Lee plans to visit the K-9 self-propelled howitzer factory in Geelong, which Hanwha Defense has established under an export contract with Australia, together with Minister Marles. Geelong is Minister Marles' hometown and electoral district. Korea signed an export contract worth up to 1.09 trillion KRW for the K-9 self-propelled howitzer with Australia last December, and is now promoting the export of the 'Redback' armored vehicle. The name Redback is derived from the 'redback spider' native to Australia.
Redback completed the final test evaluation last October for the Australian Army's state-of-the-art tracked infantry fighting vehicle acquisition project (LAND 400 Phase 3) and is awaiting the selection of the preferred bidder in the second half of this year. The Geelong K-9 factory is also the first overseas production base built by a domestic defense company, which has fostered close ties between the two countries in the defense industry sector.
Hanwha Defense's Redback is also being trial-operated by the South Korean Army. Having completed local test evaluations by last October, the Redback will conduct trial operations for two months at the 11th Division Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, performing tasks such as △road and off-road driving △obstacle and night driving △small unit combat training, to verify driving performance, mobility, and operability.
The Redback enhances protection and mobility by combining the proven technology of the K21 infantry fighting vehicle, which has been deployed in the South Korean military, with the 1,000-horsepower powerpack of the K9 self-propelled howitzer. Its top speed is 65 km/h, and it can travel up to 520 km on a full tank of fuel.
Minister Lee will also pay tribute to Australian veterans by laying a wreath at the Australian Korean War Memorial and plans to visit the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), an Australian think tank. According to the Australian side, this Korea-Australia defense ministerial meeting is the first defense ministerial meeting with an allied country held in Australia since the new Australian government took office on May 21.
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