South Korea's Hanwha signs $2.4 billion defence contract with Australia

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's Hanwha Aerospace said on Friday it has signed a contract with Australia to supply 129 Redback infantry fighting vehicles by 2028 in a 3.16 trillion won ($2.4 billion) deal.

The signing comes after Australia in July picked Hanwha as a preferred bidder for the project worth up to A$7 billion ($4.62 billion) in total, representing what the country said was the single largest investment in army capability to date.

"These vehicles will play an enormous role in improving the capability of our army, the capability of our defence force," Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles told a news conference in Geelong where the vehicles will be manufactured.

Australia's defence ministry said in a statement the project is expected to support approximately 2,100 jobs, including 1,800 direct jobs.

The new vehicles will be built at Hanwha's facilities in Geelong in the Australian state of Victoria, with the first vehicles to be delivered in 2027.

($1 = 1,314.0400 won)

($1 = 1.5165 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi and Ju-min Park in Seoul and Alasdair Pal in Sydney; Editing by Ed Davies)