Project Mulgara.

Project Mulgara (1994-1997) was to select a Light Surveillance and Reconnaissance Vehicle (LSRV) for the Australian Army going into the 21st century.

Mulgara called for an unladen weight of about 1.5 tonnes, a payload of 1.2 tonnes - all up 2.7 tonnes. This is a tough task indeed as the lightest of the army's current four wheel drives, the 4x4 Perentie, has a payload of up to 1.2 tonnes but on an unladen weight of 2.2 to 2.4 tonnes. As a consequence it is no surprise that many of the submissions were for light-weight, "buggy-style" four wheel drives.

Other tough conditions included 350mm ground clearance, approach and departure angles of 75 and 50 degrees, and the ability to handle a vertical obstacle of 450mm. No standard "consumer" four wheel drive comes near to the ground clearance requirement. The Steyr-Daimler-Puch 4x4 Pinzgauer (not entered) gets close and the Hummer exceeds it but they both have hub-reduction gears and portal axles. They are also more than a little too heavy.

The vehicle had to be able to accelerate from 0 to 100kph in under 20 seconds and to cruise at a minimum of 90kph. Up to 200kg of armour was listed for protection against small-arms and anti-personnel mines. but this could come out of the payload. The tyres were to be able to run flat. A diesel engine was specified.

Fourteen submissions of interest were received by the deadline (Nov 1995):

1. ADP of New Zealand
2. AM General / HSV - the HMMWV or Hummer
3. Australian Defence Industries (ADI) / Raceco-HSMV (US)
4. Australian Specialised Defence Equipment / Toyota
5. Australian Specialised Vehicles Systems :- (Australian National Industries and Reumech OMC of South Africa)
6. Australian Submarine Corporation - Engineering (ASC-E) / Rover (Au and UK) / Tickford Ford
7. Bliss Fox Engineering
8. British Aerospace Australia (BAeA) / Singapore Technologies Automotive
9. International Science and Technology / Mitsubishi / ASC-E
10. Jakab of Tamworth NSW
11. Martin Marietta Australia / Chenowth (US)
12. Tactical Studies Group (TSG) / Isuzu General Motors
13. Transfield Defence Systems / Ricardo Special Vehicles UK (RSV)
14. WesTrac Systems Engineering / TFM Industries of South Africa

It is hard to imagine Hummers (AM General/HSV), LandCruisers (ASDE/Toyota) or Rodeos (TSG/IGM) meeting the weight and performance requirements without drastic modifications.

Tenders were to be called for in mid 1996, and a small number of tenderers were to be selected in 1997 and asked to submit trial vehicles for an exhaustive testing programme in 1998. A final choice was to be made in 1999 and it was expected that 500 vehicles would be ordered.

After the Australian Federal election of 1996 the Australian Defence Forces were subject to extensive reviews and Project Mulgara was put on hold. The decision was announced on 3 October 1997 to cancel the project. This is a shame from the Four Wheel Drive point of view as some interesting solutions to Mulgara's targets had been proposed. The current priority (1998) is to strengthen the army in the area of armoured vehicles including Project Bushranger.

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