M113 armoured personnel carriers in Australian service
This organisation included two APC regiments, the 12th/16th Hunter River Lancers and the 8th/13th Victorian Mounted Rifles; both were reserve Citizen Military Forces (CMF) units.
[12][13] It was believed that the wheeled armoured vehicles were no longer suitable, as the Australian Army expected that it would need to fight in tropical conditions in South East Asia.
[16][17] The Weapons and Equipment Policy Statement included a requirement that potentially suitable designs be subjected to extensive trials in tropical conditions before an order was placed.
[18] Testing in extreme heat during this phase found the M113's poor ventilation took a heavy toll on crew and passengers; one driver lost 5 kilograms (11 lb) in two hours.
It was believed at the time that tanks were unsuited for the tropical environments the Army expected to fight in, and that lightly armoured vehicles would provide adequate support for the infantry.
[29] In his history of the RAAC, Major General Ronald Hopkins judged that the cavalry regiment structure produced "handy" units with considerable mobility and firepower, but their effectiveness "rested on not being opposed by medium tanks or heavy anti-tank weapons".
[47] Fitting the machine gun on the turret roof also allowed it to be quickly brought to bear on targets, though the commander lacked armoured protection while using the weapon.
[54] The armoured plates were removed from the underside of the M113s following the Australian Army's withdrawal from South Vietnam as they slightly hindered the type's mobility and it was not considered necessary to retain them in peacetime.
[57] Two M551 Sheridan light tanks were also trialled in Australia during early 1968 to determine if this type could meet the requirement for an air-portable armoured fighting vehicle.
[63] An improved variant of the turret was developed during 1990 and early 1991; this design sought to address problems with the weapons mounting, gun sight and ammunition feed system.
[67] The total numbers of M113s acquired by the Australian Army differ between sources: A project to replace the M113s began in the 1980s, but was abandoned in favour of upgrading the type.
The Canberra Times reported that it had also proven difficult to tailor the designs to Australian conditions, and that the government regarded them as unsuited to Australia's needs.
[76] The Department of Defence accepted this proposal in November 1998, but further design and developmental work demonstrated that the intended savings from combining the phases would not eventuate.
[77] As part of the development of a business case for the upgrade, consideration was given to replacing the M113s with infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) such as the American M2 Bradley.
[81] These delays were in addition to those caused by the mismanagement of the upgrade project, which was extensively criticised by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) in 2005.
The work on the vehicles included stripping them back to bare hulls, lengthening the latter ones by 666 mm, and then installing new engines (MTU 6V 199 TE20, 11.9 litre diesel, 350 bhp (260 kW) @2100 rpm),[83] armour and a range of other modifications.
[85] By the time the M113 upgrade project was complete, the operational environment had changed with a new threat improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that made the vehicles unsuitable for combat.
[72][96][92] Common upgrades to all variants include new suspension, a new power pack and engine, the addition of spall liners and appliqué armour, increased external stowage and the fuel tanks being moved from inside to outside the hull.
[25] At the time the 1st Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron was established, the M113 fleet in South Vietnam was increased, with M113A1 Fitters variants and M577A1 ACVs joining the force.
[106] During the final stage of the withdrawal of Australian forces from South Vietnam, the cavalry squadron was reduced to a single troop equipped with 12 M113A1s, 6 Fire Support Vehicles, 2 M125s and a M577 from December 1971.
[113] M113A1s proved to be highly effective, as they provided mobility, protection and firepower to support infantry operations, but their thin armour left them vulnerable to mines and other anti-tank weapons.
[120] The vehicles were also prone to throwing tracks, became bogged more easily than standard M113s and lacked gun sights for their main armament during the first months of their deployment.
[140] The M113A1 MRVs were withdrawn from service in late 1996 due to shortages of spare parts for their turrets and concerns that the fumes ejected when their main gun was fired were toxic.
These vehicles were used to protect Australian Army medical teams that had been assigned to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda following the Rwandan genocide.
[151] Some of the Australian M113 crew members served as driving and gunnery instructors for a Ghana Army unit in Rwanda which had recently received 50 M113A1s donated by Germany and had not trained with the type before starting their deployment.
[154] The experiences gained from operating M113s in East Timor helped to validate and improve the Army's mechanised doctrine, and influenced the requirements which were set for the M113 upgrade project.
[96] In 2010 the Department of Defence advised a parliamentary committee that the upgraded M113s would require additional protection to be able to serve in Afghanistan, and that ASLAVs and Bushmasters were best suited to conditions there.
[165] In 2015, Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Andrew Davies described the M113s as "essentially obsolete" and "no longer fit for purpose in anything but a benign operational environment".
[167] On 19 May 2022, Defence Minister Peter Dutton announced that the government would gift 14 M113AS4s to Ukraine as part of Australia's assistance for the country following its invasion by Russia.
[177] A decision on the type of IFV to be purchased was originally scheduled for 2022, but was delayed until 2023 to align with completion of a Defence Strategic Review in March that year.
