Australian Army soldiers from the 4th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery have conducted the first live-fire of an Australian-built AS9 Huntsman self-propelled howitzer in Victoria, marking the platform’s first firing on Australian soil.
The firing took place on 26 May at the School of Artillery in Puckapunyal and formed part of Introduction into Service training. Defence said crews fired up to 150 rounds from multiple AS9 platforms during the activity.
Defence described the event as a milestone in the delivery of the Army’s Protected Mobile Fires capability. The AS9 Huntsman is the Australian-built self-propelled howitzer being fielded for that capability.
The milestone was later confirmed in Defence material published on 4 June, which said Australian soldiers had fired the AS9 Huntsman on Australian soil for the first time on 26 May. A separate defence media report also identified the firing as the first time the system had been fired in Australia by Australian soldiers.
The activity matters because it moves the AS9 Huntsman from production and training into live-fire operational preparation, with the platform now being validated in Australian service conditions before wider introduction into service.