Deputy Mayor Kylie Grzybek, Cr Peter Murrihy and Cr Trent Sullivan have met with the CEO of Hanwha Defense at an afternoon tea on Wednesday, 29 January.
Mr Sungsoo Lee visited
Geelong from South Korea and was accompanied by the Hanwha team, including the
Managing Director of Hanwha Defence Australia, Mr Richard Cho.
Hanwha is currently participating
in Australian Government’s request for tender for its LAND 400 Phase 3 Mounted
Close Combat Capability and LAND 8116, Protected Mobility Fires projects.
Hanwha Defence is one of two
participants in LAND 400 Phase 3. The Australian Government will confirm the successful
Phase 3 participant in 2022.
Hanwha Defence is hoping
to establish a manufacturing base here, which would generate employment
opportunities in the region. The City of Greater Geelong and Geelong Defence
Alliance welcome this plan.
Some of the attendees who met
Mr Lee and Mr Cho include: Corangamite MP Libby Coker, Geelong Defence Alliance
members, Professor Saeid Nahavandi from the Institute for Intelligent Systems
Research and Innovation, Jennifer Cromarty from the Committee for Geelong, G21’s
Elaine Carbines AM, Bill Mithen from the Give Where You Live Foundation, John
O’Callaghan from Defence Council Victoria, Winchester’s Clive Pugh and Ben
Flynn from the Geelong Chamber of Commerce.
Councillor Kylie Grzybek – Deputy Mayor
It was lovely to meet with Mr
Sungsoo Lee, Mr Richard Cho and the Hanwha team, and build a relationship
with them.The City and Geelong Defence
Alliance support Hanwha Defense’s efforts to build a potential manufacturing
base in the region, which would create jobs for our residents.Geelong’s strong background
in manufacturing and advanced manufacturing makes it an ideal location for a
company such as Hanwha Defence to set up its operation. I was interested to hear about Hanwha’s current
projects and plans for the future and look forward to future collaboration with
the company.
Mr
Sungsoo Lee, CEO, Hanwha Defense
We look forward
to Geelong and Hanwha working together to build industrial capacity for
Australian Defence Self Reliance. Our aim is to collaborate with local industry
to create a centre of expertise for the assembly and maintenance of the K9 Self
Propelled Howitzer and K10 ammunition resupply vehicle family of vehicles. We intend
to create the Hanwha Armoured Vehicles
Centre of Excellence as part of our approach to the Land 400 Phase 3, the
Army’s largest ever program to replace its Armoured Personnel Carriers with
modern Infantry Fighting Vehicles. We are offering the Redback, the world’s most modern and capable infantry
fighting vehicle. This has been designed and built to meet the Australian
Army’s requirements.We look forward to working with the City of Geelong and your local
industrial base to enhance the advanced manufacturing capacity of Australian
enterprises and offer them access to these Australian defence programs, but
also opportunities in the US, UK and Korea itself, through Hanwha’s Global Supply
Chain. Hanwha is looking forward to the opportunity to work closely with
Geelong towards one of the largest armoured vehicle production facilities in
the region.
