As one Australian Army brigade bulks up with armor, its fuel and ammo needs spike

TOWNSVILLE, Australia — Based in Townsville in northern Queensland, the Australian Army’s 3rd Brigade is undergoing a massive transformation, as the heavy armored formation absorbs whole new fleets of vehicles.Yet this modernization push has major knock-on effects in terms of logistics support.Brigadier Ben Mc Lennan, the brigade’s commander, told Defense News, “The Australian Army is undergoing its most significant recapitalization, at least since World War Two, and I’d say it’s happening at record pace.”Yet he noted most of his bandwidth is invested on how to sustain this armored brigade that has “the potential to be the most lethal formation of its type on the planet.”McLennan quoted figures to underscore the criticality of logistics. “This brigade’s heavy armored vehicle fleet increases 630% in three years. Also, the brigade is going from 3,200 to around 4,000 personnel in three years,” including growth in “the very, very important logistics echelon.”As another example of the growing sustainment burden, McLennan said his former multirole combat brigade is moving from an average of 40,000 liters (roughly 10,000 gallons) of diesel per day in high-intensity operations to a daily fuel requirement of over 300,000 liters (79,000 gallons).Bulking up on armorAn important reason for such a thirst for fuel stems from heavier armored vehicles. For example, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment has already received its full complement of new M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams main battle tanks.Furthermore, two armored engineering squadrons will have received all their Abrams-based combat engineering vehicles – the M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicle and M1074 Joint Assault Bridge – by the end of 2026.The first Hanwha AS9 Huntsman self-propelled howitzer (SPH) has arrived in Townsville, and due next year are Hanwha AS21 Redback infantry fighting vehicles. Then, Rheinmetall’s Boxer 8x8 combat reconnaissance vehicle will start replacing the long-serving ASLAV in 2028.McLennan added, “Our stock of M88A2 recovery