In a joint announcement Thales Australia and Marshall Land Systems announce the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU), which includes co-operation on vehicle opportunities in Australia, in particular LAND 121 Project Overlander.
The MOU covers areas where the two companies’ capabilities, products and services complement each other, and where their interests can be jointly expanded, especially to provide turnkey solutions.
The MOU follows close co-operation between Marshall Specialist Vehicles and Thales UK on successful programs such as the Watchkeeper UAV, and through the close co-operation developed on the Bushmaster Utility vehicles. The MOU will initially be serviced by Marshall Land Systems’ company Marshall Specialist Vehicles (MSV), but will eventually migrate to the new Marshall Land Systems company in Australia Marshall Land Systems.
Chris Jenkins, CEO of Thales Australia, said: “Thales Australia is committed to delivering innovative and flexible capabilities to our customers. Marshall Land Systems’ expertise in vehicle modules complements our proven protected mobility credentials – a valuable partnership as we pursue opportunities in our land businesses, as well as other prospects.
“Additionally, integrating Marshall Land Systems into our supply chains will help generate employment opportunities in Victoria.”
Peter Callaghan, chief executive of Marshall Land Systems, said: “We are delighted with this relationship. It builds on our core values of quality and integrity and reflects the close working and excellent co-operation the two companies have developed over recent years. It will initially concentrate on our systems integration, military shelters and vehicle engineering capabilities. We have already started identifying a whole range of supply partners in Australia, a move which reflects our long-term commitment to developing Australian industry capability.”
Addressing Marshall Land Systems’ ambitions Peter Callaghan went on to say: “Obviously our first activity is with current Overlander phases, however MLS has had sufficient levels of interest on other programmes to develop this relationship and our new company further for other programmes in Australia and Asia Pacific.”