Project Waler was an unsuccessful Australian defence procurement exercise which sought to replace the Australian Army's M113 armoured personnel carriers (example pictured) during the mid-1990s with between 500 and 1,000 armoured fighting vehicles optimised for Australian conditions. The vehicles were to be built in Australia to support the local manufacturing industry. After initial scoping work in 1980, proposals were submitted in 1982, and further studies were undertaken during 1983. A tender to acquire them was planned but 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. Most of the M113s were upgraded, although the resultant vehicles were unfit for combat, and the Australian Government launched a new project in 2018 to replace them. Commentators have noted that Project Waler was over-ambitious, with not enough emphasis placed on keeping costs down.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Waler

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1909:

British explorer Aeneas Mackintosh, a member of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeneas_Mackintosh

1951:

Korean War: Chinese and North Korean troops captured Seoul from United Nations forces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Battle_of_Seoul

1973:

Last of the Summer Wine, the longest-running sitcom in the world, premiered as an episode of the BBC's Comedy Playhouse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_of_the_Summer_Wine

2020:

Sembawang Hot Spring Park in Singapore reopened after being redeveloped by the National Parks Board. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sembawang_Hot_Spring_Park

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

lick into shape: (transitive, idiomatic) To exert considerable effort to change (someone or something) into a desired state. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lick_into_shape

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.   --Isaac Newton https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton