SUPACAT HMV OPS HALTED AFTER FATAL INCIDENT

8 OCTOBER 2026

DARWIN: The Australian Army has temporarily suspended operations of the Supacat High Mobility Vehicle in the wake of a fatal accident that cost the life of Corporal Brendan Hannam.

Corporal Hannam was killed and five other soldiers from the Robertson Barracks Darwin based 5th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment were injured when the Supacat High Mobility Vehicle they were operating was involved in a roll over during training at the Mount Bundey Training Area on October 5.

Suspension of Supacat HMV operations was implemented in the wake of the fatal accident until investigations into the incident are complete and the Army has an informed view on the vehicle and any specific vehicular issues that may have related to the tragedy.

The Darwin based 5th Battalion is currently the only Australian Army conventional unit to operate the Supacat HMV since the vehicles were originally acquired as the Special Operation Vehicle - Direct Action and Special Operations Vehicle - Logistics under Joint Project 2097 Phase 1B (Project Redfin) in the mid 2010s but have been rerolled several times in an effort to find a suitable role after their rejection by Special Operations Command Australia.

Prior to being assigned to 5RAR, the Supacat's (redesignated to High Mobility Vehicles after losing their Special Operations Vehicle designation) were temporarily assigned to the Lavarack Barracks Townsville based 2nd Battalion (Amphibious) Royal Australian Regiment (2RAR(Amphib)) and were employed by the Darwin based 8th/12th Regiment Royal Australian Artillery (8/12RAA) where the vehicles are being trialled as Littoral Gun Towing Vehicles (LGTV) for 8/12RAA's 155mm 39 calibre M777A2 Lightweight Towed Howitzers before being assigned as reconnaissance assets for 5RAR.

The Special Operations Vehicles - Direct Action were part of an 80 vehicle acquisition under Joint Project 2097 Phase 1B (Project Redfin) in the late 2010s, ostensibly to replace aging Rover Reconnaissance Surveillance Vehicles at Special Operations Command - Australia's elite 2nd Commando Regiment (2Cdo), Special Operations Engineer Regiment (SOER) and the Special Operations Logistics Squadron (SOLS).

While acquired at great cost and having undergone a lengthy acceptance process involving at least one return to Supacat Australia to undergo remanufacture to remediate issues identified by Special Operations Command - Australia, the 80 Supacat Special Operations Vehicles - Direct Action and nine Supacat Special Operations vehicles - Logistics (SOV-L) apparently never gained unit acceptance by Australia's special operations units in eastern Australia.

JP 2097 Phase 1B SOV Commando and SOV Logistics were originally scheduled to be delivered by late 2017, but the collapse of two important component suppliers in the UK saw production and deliveries delayed with the final vehicle not accepted until September 2018, after which they were returned to Supacat Australia for extensive remediation, delaying operational release to late 2019.

All 89 of the vehicles had to undergo a significant remanufacture program conducted by Supacat at its facility in Western Sydney, but the remediation efforts won the vehicles no love in the heavily task focused Special Operations Command - Australia.

The SOV-Commando and SOV-Logistics are Australianised evolutions of the Supacat Extenda Mark II vehicle originally contracted in August 2014 to replace the 1980s vintage Long Range Patrol Vehicle (LRPV) and the 1990s era Surveillance Reconnaissance Vehicle (SRV) employed by the 2nd Commando Regiment and Special Operations Logistics Squadron.

The Special Operations Vehicle - Commando and Special Operations Vehicle - Logistics are HMT Extenda Mk II chassis which can be optionally operated as either 4x4 or 6x6 with the addition or subtraction of a third axle assembly, but are primarily fielded as 6x6 vehicles.

The SOV-Commando was to be fielded with a primary armament built around a single Kongsberg Protector Dual Remote Weapons System, a precision stabilised weapons platform armed with a mixture of 12.7x99mm M2HB/QCB medium machineguns, either the Mk 19 Mod 3 or Mk 47 Mod 1 40x53mm High Velocity Automatic Grenade Launchers, 7.62x51mm MAG General Support Machine Guns and even FGM-148 Javelin missiles.

No imagery of an Australian Army SOV-Commando or SOV-Logistics fitted with an integrated Kongsberg Protector Dual Role Weapons System had emerged from either Special Operations Command - Australia or other specialised units assigned with the vehicle prior to last week, when the Australian Defence Force's Port Wakefield South Australia based Joint Proof & Experimental Unit released a video of its weapons testing which included brief low resolution footage of an SOV-Commando with an integrated Kongsberg Protector Dual Role Remote Weapons Systems firing an FGM-148 Javelin Advanced Anti Tank Weapon System - Medium (AATWS-M) All Up Round.

Special Operations Command - Australia acquired three variants of the Supacat HMT Extenda in two separate acquisitions after the urgent need to upgrade the inservice LRRP and SRV vehicle fleet was identified during early operations in Uruzgan Afghanistan in 2005/06.

An original order for 31 Nary Special Operations Vehicles - Special Reconnaissance for the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) was announced in August 2008 as an urgent operational requirement under Joint Project 2097 Phase 1A.

The Nary SOV-SRs were an evolution of the Supacat HMV Extenda Mk 1 built by Supacat in the UK, and were originally scheduled to enter service with the Afghanistan deployed Special Operations Task Group in the 2008/09 period. But problems integrating Australian digital suites and IFF systems saw the vehicle’s entry into service delayed to beyond 2011/12.

The follow on order for the 89 SOV-Commando and SOV Logistics vehicles saw Supacat Australia establish a manufacturing centre in western Sydney to build and support the new fleet of vehicles.

The later tranche of Special Operations Vehicles - Commando and Logistics promised to deliver exceptional operational performance combining high off road speeds with next generation rough terrain negotiating capability but failed to ever make a public appearance in SOCAust unit service.