Australia to Spend $1.2 Billion on New Military Vehicles

Australia has announced a further boost to defence spending, committing $1.2 billion (US$860 million) to new defence vehicles as part of an additional spending package unveiled earlier this month.

The latest spend sees $750 million going to weapons manufacturer Thales Australia to commission 268 new Bushmasters—Australian-designed, 4×4 mine-resistant armoured vehicles tailored for high-level blast protection and troop transport.

They will be produced at Thales’ Bendigo facility over the next seven years.

A further $450 million will be spent on upgrades of Hawkei protected mobility vehicles—a 7-tonne, Australian-built light four-wheel-drive vehicle with high-level ballistic and blast protection.

They are primarily used by the Australian Army for command, liaison, and reconnaissance and serve as a “fighting platform” with integrated combat systems.

Some of the money will also go toward upgrading the defence force’s truck capability.

New Spending Good for Jobs and Defence Industry: Marles

Announcing the commitment, Defence Minister Richard Marles said it would support the retention of 300 jobs in regional Victoria and 150 in Brisbane, while strengthening the national defence industry.

“The Australian-built Bushmaster and Hawkei are recognised as world-leading protected mobility vehicles, supporting not just the Australian Defence Force, but the defence forces of our international partners as well,” he said in a statement.

The manufacture of these Bushmasters adds to the vehicles already being built to replace the more than 100 gifted to Ukraine.

Since its introduction in the late 1990s, the Bushmaster has been exported to several countries, including Japan, New Zealand and the UK, and deployed in conflicts such as the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan and the Syrian Civil War.

“As the protected mobility vehicle of choice for nine countries, the Bushmaster is an Australian defence industry success story and a priority capability for the Australian Defence Strategic Sales Office,” the statement read.

The new defence vehicle spending comes just over a week after the Labor government pledged an additional $53 billion for defence over the next decade, lifting spending to 3 percent of GDP by 2033 from a projected 2.3 percent, amid pressure from the United States.

Shortly afterwards, the government announced it would spend $7 billion over the next decade on counter-drone systems, including millions on laser technology that can burn through steel.

In a recent speech to the National Press Club, Marles said Australia’s biggest peacetime increase in defence spending was necessary as Australia was facing the most “complex and threatening” strategic circumstances since the end of World War II.