The Australian Defence Force (ADF) Bushmaster 4×4 protected motor vehicle will be upgraded with an electronic warfare (EW) system from Raytheon Australia, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced on July 18.
Supported by Project Land 555 Phase 6, the approval of the Army-grade EW program will see an undisclosed number of Bushmaster vehicles retrofitted and integrated with EW systems. The work is valued at nearly $75 million.
Defense Industry Secretary Pat Conroy said in the Defense Department statement that the systems will enhance the ADF’s ability to monitor and control the electronic environment and “deny or weaken an adversary’s electronic systems if necessary.”
“The government is committed to improving the operational and operational capabilities of the Australian Defence Force in complex electromagnetic environments,” Conroy added. “This new capability will provide our Army with a better range of options to continue to pursue our interests in our region and to deter, defeat and deny attacks and threats to Australia.
“This program will complement electronic warfare systems at the air and maritime force level, further enhancing these capabilities when deployed jointly as a joint force.”
Conroy said Australian industry would be involved in supply, training and maintenance support for the new capability.
“This project will inject more than $46 million into Australian industry, help strengthen our sovereign defence industrial base, support the delivery of multiple sovereign industrial capability priorities and upskill our local workforce,” he said.
The DoD did not provide a delivery timeline in its press release, but AMR has learned from industry sources that the project is expected to be completed in about three years and will also include a command and control component.
Baseline Lizard vehicles can carry up to 10 fully equipped troops. In addition to Australia, the vehicle is used by armed and security forces in Fiji, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
The Ministry of Defence also announced on July 4 that Australia has also donated 60 jungle monitor lizards to Ukraine to help its forces resist a Russian invasion.
by Jr Ng
