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Key details relating to Australia’s commitment to deliver a fleet of locally built Bushmaster vehicles to Ukraine have been revealed by the Prime Minister and Minister for Defence this morning.
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Today, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced Australia would gift Ukraine 20 Bushmasters, including two ambulance variants, to support their military campaign against the Russian invasion in response to a recent request from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his remote address to a joint sitting of Federal Parliament last Thursday evening (31 March).
The Bushmasters have been painted olive green to better suit Ukraine’s battlefield environment, with a Ukrainian flag painted on either side alongside “United with Ukraine” in English and Ukrainian while the ambulance variants will represent the standard Red Cross.
The vehicles are reportedly furnished with radio, GPS and “additional bolt-on armour”, with training of the systems to be conducted via video.
Last week, Prime Minister Morrison revealed the government was reviewing Bushmaster stocks to determine the number and nature of a delivery to Ukraine via a Royal Australian Air Force C-17 Globemaster.
The government was also exploring whether it could source Bushmasters from a European ally to reduce delivery delays.
However, today the Prime Minister has stated the delivery method would not be disclosed at the request of the Ukrainian government.
The Bushmaster is billed as an 11-tonne, 4x4 protected vehicle with a four-tonne payload, designed to perform across a range of mission profiles.
The platform has a number of variants, which include troop carrier, command, patrol, support, weapons deployment and ambulance functions.
The Bushmasters can reportedly carry 10 personnel, supported by blast and ballistic protection and off-road mobility.
The vehicles are in service with a number of countries on four continents, including Australia, the UK, New Zealand, Japan, and the Netherlands.
[Related: Defence exploring options for Bushmaster delivery to Ukraine: PM]
