“Bushmaster Bonanza at Bendigo”
Related Stories: Australia & S. Pacific, Contracts - Intent, Europe - Other, Signals Radio & Wireless, Thales, Transformation, Trucks & Transport
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Australia’s “Hardened and Networked Army” push led them to adopt the v-hulled, mine resistant Bushmaster vehicles long before allies like the USA and Britain awoke to the need; Bushmasters have been deployed to East Timor, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
“Bushmaster Bonanza at Bendigo” read the August 2007 DoD headline, as Liberal Party Minister for Defence Dr. Brendan Nelson announced that Australia would buy at least 250 more Bushmaster vehicles. That order has now been finalized, under the Labor Party successor government. As announced by the Hon. Joel Fitzgibbon, the contract actually covers 293 Bushmasters, in order to meet Protected Mobility Medium requirements for Project Overlander’s Phase 3.
That’s the hardened component. Now comes the networked aspect, courtesy of a contract that leverages Thales’ international scope…
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The October 2008 DoD release adds that:
“These vehicles will provide protection by replacing trucks where troops are required to travel in the rear of the vehicle. The Overlander Phase 3 requirement also includes additional vehicles to enable the Enhanced Land Force. These additional Bushmasters will increase the total number of vehicles being acquired under Land 116 Project Bushmaster Phase 3 to 737.”
No prices were announced, but the Aug 18/07 announcement set an expected figure of over A$ 300 million (then about $240 million) fully equipped.
This order joins the original order for 299 vehicles, 25 of which were sold back to Thales in order to meet an emergency order from the Dutch in July 2006. They were later replaced by another 26 vehicles, bringing the ADF fleet to 300. Another 143 vehicles were bought under the A$ 99 million follow-on Enhanced Land Force (ELF) purchase in June 2007; and DoD will receive 1 additional vehicle from Thales, in compensation for “schedule relief on Australian deliveries in order to meet a Dutch follow-on purchase. With these 293 vehicles added under Project Overlander, the total now stands at 737.
Though Thales Australia (formerly ADI) does have a partnership with Oshkosh Truck in the USA, all Australian vehicles will be built at Thales’ Bendigo, Australia facility. The Bushmaster mine-resistant vehicle received no orders under the USA’s MRAP program, for reasons which remain unclear to this day. Reports from the front lines indicate satisfaction with the vehicle’s protection and mobility, and both existing customers have placed repeat orders.
Contracts and Follow-Ons
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April 8/09: Hardened – and now networked. Thales Australia announces a contract with Australia’s Defence Materiel Organisation to supply 700 SOTAS IP next-generation vehicle communications systems, plus spares, for insertion into Australia’s Bushmaster fleet. Installation into operational Bushmasters is scheduled to begin in July 2009, with in-service vehicles retrofitted at Thales’ Vehicle Support Centre in Brisbane, and potentially at ADF bases around the country. The system will also be installed in all new vehicles during production at Thales’ Bendigo facility.
Thales Nederland’s SOTAS IP will form the core of the vehicles’ communications systems. It integrates the Battle Management System, the radios, telephone services and IP services, and provides interoperability between radio networks (UHF, VHF, HF) and with Wide Area Networks. Vehicle intercom, Ethernet LAN and IP routing services are provided, and the system allows further integration of VoIP services, Battle Management System, vetronics services, inter-platform communications, wireless LAN services, video on demand and advanced soldier systems. Ad hoc networking appears to be a particular strength. In addition to wired (fibre and electrical) networks, SOTAS IP provides ad-hoc WLAN networking with multi-hop routing, enabling random network topologies.
The system’s most appreciated capability is likely to be its proprietary Dynamic Noise Reduction (DNR) and human voice recognition algorithms, allowing clear voice communications even in very noisy vehicles or environments. The SOTAS system is designed to scale across multiple vehicles, and even into soldier-carried systems. It has been installed in over 50 vehicle types in more than 30 countries, including Thales Bushmaster vehicles supplied to the Netherlands. Thales release.
