MORE SALES OF BUSHMASTER VEHICLES

Greg Combet, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement, today congratulated Thales Australia on its recent sale of additional Bushmaster vehicles to the Netherlands Army.

“The Netherlands has ordered a further 13 Bushmaster vehicles on top of its purchase of 36 Bushmasters. The United Kingdom has also recently ordered 24 of the vehicles,” Mr Combet said.

Mr Combet has been promoting Australian defence industry capabilities during recent visits to the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.

“I have been promoting Australian defence industry capabilities to our allies and I think there are further global market opportunities for the Bushmaster vehicle.”

“At least one other European country is known to have a requirement for vehicles of the Bushmaster type and presents a potential market opportunity,” Mr Combet said.

“The Bushmaster is currently deployed overseas with the ADF and it has performed remarkably well. Operators of the vehicle have commented to me on both its high level of operational performance and protection level.”

“The Bushmaster vehicle is built at Thales Australia’s Bendigo (Victoria) facility. There are currently 7 variants within the Bushmaster family of vehicles. To date 443 Bushmaster variant vehicles have been sold and contract negotiations are in train for approximately 250 additional vehicles for the Australian Defence Force.”

Media contacts:

Rod Hilton (Greg Combet):                                             0458 276 619

Defence Media Liaison:                      02 6265 3343 or 0408 498 664