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.
