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Hanwha offers NATO a 40mm Redback with counter-drone command wired into the turret
Hanwha and Lockheed Martin UK swapped the Redback's 30mm cannon for a CTA International 40mm and put an air defence command system inside the turret, and the two firms say they are pursuing NATO and allied customers.
The Product Desk · Product desk
What happened
- Hanwha Aerospace and Lockheed Martin UK showed a Redback infantry fighting vehicle fitted with a British-built 40mm turret and counter-drone technology at Defense Vehicle Dynamics 2026 in Millbrook, England.
- Australia has contracted Hanwha Defense Australia for 129 Redbacks under LAND 400 Phase 3, and those vehicles keep the Mk44S Bushmaster II 30mm cannon with Spike LR2 anti-tank missiles.
- Hanwha plans live demonstrations of the new configuration in 2027, including in Canada and South Korea, while pursuing potential NATO and allied customers.
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Why it matters
- constraint Commonality between the two Redback configurations stops at the hull. A buyer taking the 40mm turret takes on a cannon and an ammunition chain that Australia's fleet does not use, and spares pooling with the largest existing operator ends at the turret ring.
- decision Programme offices now have to decide whether counter-drone command and control is bought inside the fighting vehicle line item or kept in a separate air defence buy, because Hanwha is offering it as a configuration option.
- exposure The tasking problem lands on the customer. A vehicle running the formation's counter-drone picture is a vehicle the infantry section is not using as an IFV at that moment, and nothing in the announcement says which job gives way.
- precedent Putting an air defence command system inside a turret gives every rival IFV bidder a question it will now be asked to answer in the next competition.
A programme officer standing next to this hull at Millbrook can check the gun by looking at it; the counter-drone claim takes more work to inspect. SkyKeeper is a battlefield command and control system for ground-based air defence and counter-uncrewed aircraft work [11], and Lockheed Martin says it can combine information from multiple sensors and coordinate kinetic and non-kinetic effectors [12]. It is designed to operate through the UK's Generic Vehicle Architecture [13]. Those are claims about deciding and about wiring. The companies have not publicly disclosed the complete sensor, effector or engagement architecture of the new configuration [16].
The gun is the checkable part. The turret was developed and integrated at Lockheed Martin UK's Bedfordshire facility and carries a CTA International 40mm cannon [5][4], and according to interestingengineering.com that choice gives the vehicle access to a range of NATO-qualified ammunition [6]. Hanwha's Byunggil Lee said the company selected the cannon for the flexibility its ammunition types provide, the same report says [7]. Australia's vehicles use a Northrop Grumman Mk44S Bushmaster II 30mm cannon along with Spike LR2 anti-tank guided missiles [8]. The two versions share the tracked hull and part company at the cannon and the ammunition chain [19].
What is on offer is a configuration, not a change to anybody's programme. Hanwha says the version shown is not meant to replace Australia's and gives it another configuration it can adapt to individual customer requirements [17]. Australia selected the vehicle in 2023 and its 129 vehicles are scheduled to be built locally [10]. interestingengineering.com described the exercise as showing how an existing armoured platform can be reconfigured around changing battlefield requirements [22].
Dual role, the phrase the two companies used for conventional infantry fighting plus counter-UAS work [15], means the vehicle can be tasked either way. A squadron commander is still the one who has to work out which job the vehicle drops when a drone and a fighting position turn up in the same ten minutes. Small drones can provide persistent reconnaissance and can also carry explosives, so armoured units have to handle aerial threats alongside conventional ground targets [21].
Down one side of the grid, the two jobs: detect the drone, defeat the drone. Across the top, two places those jobs can sit: on this hull, or elsewhere in the formation. A command and control system is what makes the second column worth anything, because it lets one vehicle act on another unit's track. On the published record, the claim that stands up for this Redback is the command and control one.
What to watch
- Whether the 2027 demonstrations name the radars and effectors paired with SkyKeeper, or only show the C2 screens.
- Any firm order for the 40mm configuration from a NATO or allied customer, and whether it comes with the counter-UAS package or without it.
- Whether Australia's 129-vehicle program stays on the Mk44S 30mm while the 40mm turret is marketed elsewhere.