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ADF orders additional Bushmaster vehicles

20 August 2007

Today's announcement by the Commonwealth for an additional 254 Bushmaster Protected Mobility vehicles for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) is welcomed by Thales as further endorsement of the excellence of this unique indigenous design.

Norman Gray, Managing Director Thales Australia, speaking at the announcement in Bendigo said, "This latest order for Bushmaster, worth around AUS$300M, is great recognition for a complete vehicle system, wholly developed in Australia and provides a steady state of demand for the vehicle for the next three years.

"Bushmaster has proven itself operationally with Australian and Netherlands armed forces in a wide range of challenging environments.

"The ADF currently deploys Bushmaster in Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor to provide a critical protected mobility capability.

"This latest order brings total Bushmaster sales to 722, represented by 696 for the ADF and 26 for the Netherlands armed forces, and now represents the largest fleet of hardened vehicles in the ADF inventory.

"Thales is very proud of our achievements and success with Bushmaster and we look forward to a strong and supportive relationship with the ADF as we build and support these vehicles into service and further add to the long-term viability of Bushmaster production.

"Bushmaster, and its variants, has great development potential for the Australian and other defence, security and civil markets with opportunities existing in the United States, United Kingdom, Middle East and Asia.

"This latest sale enhances our international reputation as a reliable supplier of an operationally proven world-class product.

"With the continued support of the Federal Government in exploring export markets, we hope to further develop the global reach of Bushmaster," Mr Gray said.

About Thales

Thales is a leading international electronics and systems group, addressing defence, aerospace and security markets worldwide. Thales's leading-edge technology supported by 22 000 R&D engineers who offer a capability unmatched in Europe to develop and deploy field-proven mission-critical information systems. To this end, the group's civil and military businesses develop in parallel and share a common base of technologies to serve a single objective: the security of people, property and nations. The group builds its growth on its unique multi-domestic strategy based on trusted partnerships with national customers and market players, while leveraging its global expertise to support local technology and industrial development. Thales employs 68,000 people in 50 countries with forecast 2007 revenues in excess of € 12 billion.