Following the opening of it’s new Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence, Rheinmetall Defence Australia recently announced that it has chosen Axalta as it’s strategic coatings partner for the new facility. The new 11-hectare complex, located in the Brisbane suburb of Ipswich, has been specifically built to manufacture combat vehicles for the Australian Defence Force, as well as military vehicles for NATO members. In October last year, Prime Minister Scott Morrison officially opened this new facility – known as MILVEHCOE.

The first vehicles to be built and assembled at Rheinmetall’s MILVEHCOE facility will be the Boxer Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles, which are being delivered to the Australian Army under the $5 billion LAND 400 Phase 2 project. A full range of military coatings products from Axalta will be used on the project.

“Axalta has been working with Rheinmetall both here in Australia and in a number of overseas locations since 2015 and has consistently demonstrated an ability to develop customised paint  related solutions for Defence projects.” says Michael Busch, OEM and Military Program Manager at Axalta. “Our continued focus on the most technologically advanced and innovative coatings aligns perfectly with the new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility.” added Michael. 

In addition to providing special end-use coatings, the partnership with Axalta has resulted in improved application techniques designed to shorten cycle times and coating productivity, whilst maintaining the highest levels of quality.

The $170m venue in Ipswich, Queensland began construction in 2018, and was completed in just two years – an amazing achievement. Aside from being the most advanced military vehicle manufacturing facility in Australia, MILVEHCOE will also create 450 new jobs from across the breadth of the manufacturing industry. This includes welders, vehicle mechanics, systems and integration engineers, electro-optics technicians, software coders and developers.