The looming solution would put the Bendigo-built vehicles back in the field almost six months after military personnel uncovered a safety issue at Puckapunyal's military area.

All vehicles were withdrawn from operation after last November's incident.

No-one was injured but the incident put a spanner in the works for the Australian Defence Force, which had hoped to award Hawkei's their coveted "initial operations capability" status by December 2020.

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Instead, Defence and manufacturer Thales began an urgent search for a solution to the brakes issue.

The incident has turned into the final hurdle in the military's ambitious push to develop a new armoured vehicle light enough to be lifted by a Chinook helicopter.

Thales has spent more than a decade carefully researching and developing the vehicle, as well as honing high-tech on-board computer systems.

A Defence spokesperson did not offer an expected date for a resolution to the brake problem.

"Thales Australia and Defence are in the last stages of agreeing on the brake remediation plan, which will enable IOC to be declared shortly thereafter," they said.

The confirmation coincides with defence secretary Greg Moriarty and other senior Department of Defence leaders' visit to Bendigo recently.

The senior official is responsible for key policy advice to the Australian government including on budget, resource allocation and stewardship of public workforces.

The department tweeted on Tuesday that Mr Moriarty had visited Thales' Bendigo facility to learn more about the Hawkei manufacturing process as well as that of the Bushmaster.

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Those armoured vehicles are tried and tested military assets that have been deployed to multiple war and peacekeeping missions.

Both vehicles are designed for "high-threat environments" and the military considers them to be important parts of Australia's future defence capabilities.

Defence has ordered 1100 Hawkei vehicles and 1058 custom-built trailers from Thales.

The company hit full production last year and Hawkei's are supporting more than 200 Bendigo jobs, excluding others across the manufacturing supply chain.

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