Thales Australia said the 500th Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle has rolled off the production line in Bendigo, Victoria, serving as testament to the many people from Thales and the Commonwealth who had successfully collaborated on the vehicle.
“The Bushmaster is an extremely capable and flexible vehicle that is a shining example of Australian capabilities,” Chris Jenkins, Thales Australia’s managing director, said recently in a statement. “This combination is unique, and we are well placed to meet and exceed the Australian Defence Force’s requirements both now and in the future.”
The Bushmaster is considered a highly effective platform for a variety of capabilities. It has repeatedly proven itself in successful overseas deployments with Australian and Dutch forces, Thales said.
With more than a decade’s experience in designing, developing and manufacturing the Bushmaster family of vehicles and High Mobility Engineering Vehicles, Thales’s Bendigo team are Australia’s leaders in highly mobile protected military vehicle design and manufacture, the company added.
According to Thales, Bushmaster’s operational performance in Iraq and Afghanistan is proof of the company’s global leadership in land mine and IED blast protected vehicles. It’s systems architecture and integration capabilities set the standard for armored patrol and combat support vehicles for the next decade or more, the company added.