Defence suspended the use of its newly-built Hawkei fleet late in November after an issue with brakes in the Puckapunyal Military Area.

No-one was injured in the incident.

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A spokesperson said Defence is working with manufacturer Thales to remediate the issue "as a matter of priority".

"Defence takes work health and safety incidents very seriously. The safety of our people is critical for Defence to achieve its mission of defending Australia and its national interests," they said.

The brake problem has become the final hurdle in a decade-long research and and development push to give the military its only armoured vehicle light enough to be lifted by a Chinook helicopter.

Thales has had to work its way through a number of technological and supply-chain challenges in that time, including a dramatic intervention to buy a German engine supplier rather than let it go belly-up in 2019.

Thales entered the final stretch in 2020 and announced that it was ramping up Bendigo production in September following blast and ballistics testing.

At the time, it was looking increasingly like the Army would give Hawkeis the final ticks of approval later by December.

But hopes the Army would award the vehicles "initial operations capability" status were dashed after the safety incident on November 28.

Hawkeis have passed all other tests the Army has thrown at them.

The Commonwealth has already accepted 260 vehicles from Thales, many of which have been sent on final field tests through much of last year.

Ninety-three of the Hawkeis and custom trailers have been rolled out to army units based in Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin and Townsville.

Defence has ordered 1100 overall, plus 1058 trailers.

The hold-up has not dimmed the military's enthusiasm for Hawkeis.

"Defence is excited about the Hawkei and is looking forward to realising its full capability in support of the Australian Defence Force," its spokesperson said.

It has also not affected workloads at the Bendigo factory.

Hawkei production remains at full capacity. Two vehicles come off the line each day, or 40 vehicles a month.

"Thales is currently recruiting for an additional eight fabricator roles and eight production line roles to support the production of Hawkei vehicles for the Australian Defence Force, as well as Bushmaster export contracts for Jamaica, Netherlands and New Zealand," a spokesperson said.

"These roles are in addition to the almost 35 new staff employed last year."

This story was updated at 1.45pm with additional information and quotes from Thales.