Defence Business: Bushmaster branches out | ADM Mar 2009

Julian Kerr

The last of the 736 Bushmasters ordered for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) in a variety of configurations will be delivered in 2011.

Twenty-four vehicles ordered by the UK for service in Iraq and Afghanistan were delivered last year and nine Bushmasters ordered in January by the Royal Dutch Army in addition to the 49 it had already purchased will be handed over by the end of March. ‘

Thales is confident of expanding its export base and says it is pursuing credible opportunities in 14 countries spanning Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

So confident, in fact, that by June it will begin production of a so-called World Bushmaster, a second baseline variant that will be more easily configurable to specific user requirements, including left or right hand drive, without major engineering changes.

The production rate has yet to be decided, but the company appears ready to hold a certain number as stock pending new orders.

Bushmaster's lack of success to date in the lucrative US MRAP (mine resistant ambush protected) program is attributed by Grant Sanderson, senior manager business development in Thales' land and joint systems division, to an emphasis on survivability against mobility.

"What were chosen were very survivable but big and enormously heavy 6x6 vehicles that will get you from Point A to Point B, and after that all they can really do is provide shade," he commented.

However, he is optimistic about the vehicle's chances for the MRAP-ATV (all terrain vehicle) requirement which seeks smaller, lighter and more manoeuvrable vehicles, albeit with a high (classified) level of protection.

Sanderson, a former Australian SAS officer and son of Lieutenant-General John Sanderson, a former Chief of Army who championed Bushmaster in its early days, is also sanguine about the longer-term future.

"There are still not many armies that understand protected mobility and the non-linear nature of the current threat environment," he said.

"A lot of people think things will change once current operations are over.

"This is a complete misreading of what's happening globally and the easily-transferable technology of IEDs (improvised explosive devices)."

Other variants

Thales reports particularly strong overseas interest in Bushmaster's ambulance and logistics support variants.

A production version of the ambulance has undergone detailed assessment in the UK, France, the Netherlands, and several other undisclosed countries.

Designed to allow a casualty with serious injuries to survive a mine blast while being transported, it is equipped with one permanent stretcher station and facilities for four seated wounded, each with their own drip, oxygen and regulator.

Alternatively, the four seats fold down to provide a second completely protected stretcher station.

The Copperhead logistics support vehicle, based on the Bushmaster but with a flatbed to the rear of the cab carrying loads of up to four tonnes (five tonnes with upgraded suspension), has been undergoing extensive testing in the UK and France and has won through to the final set of contenders for the UK's Operational Utility Vehicle System Heavy requirement.

An ISTAR (intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance) Bushmaster variant demonstrated in Australia late last year is equipped with a Thales CELT2 laser rangefinder and a Thales Sophie multi-function thermal imager contained within an Osprey vehicle-mounted sensor unit; a GPS and a ruggedised display.

The entire Sophie-Osprey unit is mounted on a mast which can be extended up to four metres above the Bushmaster and is able to rotate 360 degrees up and down the y axis.

The system is available in kit form and can be fitted in the field.

Development is also proceeding on a specialised 6x6 variant to combat IEDs and chemical/biological/radiological threats.

Described by Thales as intended for a threat environment one step above that currently experienced in Afghanistan, the platform will be more heaving armoured than the standard Bushmaster and will feature an interrogator arm on top of the vehicle and a lock-in/lock-out chamber for a crew member to don and remove protective clothing.

An engineering assessment has been completed for fitting the standard 12.4 tonne Bushmaster with new axles and suspension to increase the vehicle mass to more than 18 tonnes, although no commercial requirement for this has yet emerged.

A seven to eight tonne variant is also under development.

This will retain the benefits of the Bushmaster mine-resistant V-hull and is aimed at replacing five to six-seat reconnaissance and standard utility vehicles.

Despite its smaller size it will be capable of being fitted with a remote weapons station (RWS) mounting up to a .50 calibre machine gun.

Natural evolution

Meanwhile the standard Bushmaster continues to evolve, drawing on operational lessons learnt in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Most changes involve internal fitout to accommodate new communications equipment and weapons.

A new customer-driven configuration for a RWS, when fitted, places the operator in a forward-facing rear seat at the rear of the vehicle with specialised fixed mounts for the visual display unit and the control arm.

Another change under consideration is the removal of the two armoured glass windows on each side of the troop compartment of the infantry mobility variant to save weight.

Instead, images from external cameras, or tactical information, would be projected on to flat internal surfaces.

More substantial development of the standard Bushmaster will see a move towards a fully-digital vehicle and higher-technology versions of variants such as the command and control vehicle, Sanderson said.

Although the company will not comment on this, an interim step would be installation of the fully-programmable Thales SOTAS M2 multi-media communications system already equipping the Bushmasters in Dutch service.

This provides a basic internet capability and backbone.

With the application of a smart server box and systems that are internet-capable, SOTAS will enable the user to plug and play the digital systems in the vehicle without major reconfiguration of the harness.

Meanwhile Bushmaster continues to demonstrate its capabilities in combat.

Involved in a number of serious incidents, all have seen the occupants able to walk away without serious injuries with only four vehicles known to be irreparable.

One of these is now being used as a pillbox at Camp Holland in Tarin Kowt.

Another Dutch Bushmaster flown to Bendigo for repair received the blast of two 9kg antitank mines underneath the front wheel stations.

Although the vehicle was immobilised, its crew received only minor injuries and the vehicle was recovered by an accompanying Bushmaster.

Copperhead is being proposed by Thales for Land 121 Phase 3 where, Sanderson points out, one of the requirements for a number of variants is for "Bushmaster-like manoeuvrability."

"Our argument is that in units where everyone is driving around in Bushmaster, throughlife support and training would be much more cost-effective if the logistics vehicle had the same engine and the same drive train.

"And you also get protection, it's not a solution where you have to uparmour a truck and reduce its load and mobility."