Project Waler

Project Waler
An Australian Army ASLAV in 2011. These armoured fighting vehicles are similar to those considered during Project Waler and were acquired several years after it was cancelled.
Type	Infantry fighting vehicle and other variants
Place of origin	Australia
Production history
Designed	1980–1985 (scoping studies and initial design work only)
No. built	Between 500 and 1,000 planned. None built.
Drive	Tracked and wheeled designs considered

Project Waler was an unsuccessful Australian defence procurement project which sought to replace the Australian Army's M113 armoured personnel carriers with more capable armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs). It was initiated in 1980 and cancelled in 1985 without any vehicles being procured.

The goal of the project was to replace the Army's M113s during the mid-1990s with between 500 and 1,000 AFVs optimised for Australian conditions. These vehicles were to be built in Australia to support the local manufacturing industry. After initial scoping work, proposals were sought from companies during 1981. These proposals were submitted in 1982, and further studies were undertaken in 1983. While the scoping studies demonstrated that it would be feasible to build the vehicles in Australia, a planned tender to acquire them was not issued. Instead, Project Waler was cancelled by the Australian Government in July 1985 due to concerns over the cost and capabilities of the proposed vehicles. The M113s used by the Army's armoured reconnaissance units were replaced by ASLAV wheeled armoured fighting vehicles that were similar to the designs considered under Project Waler. Most of the remaining fleet of M113s were upgraded.

Project Waler is sometimes cited as an example of a mismanaged Australian defence procurement process, with commentators noting that it had been over-ambitious and not enough emphasis was placed on keeping costs down. The M113 upgrade project was also unsuccessful, with the resultant vehicles being unfit for combat, and the Australian Government launched a new project in 2018 to replace them.