Thales Australia has picked up a significant Australian Defence Force (ADF) order for its new next generation Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle (PMV), although the company’s Bushmaster-based StrikeMaster platform, which mates the vehicle with a Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile (NSM) launcher, has lost out to the Lockheed Martin High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and its Precision Strike Missile (PrSM).

The Australian government announced on 27 April 2026 that it is investing AUD 750 million [EUR 460 million] to equip the ADF with 268 next generation Bushmaster PMVs. Production of the vehicles, which will feature a number of enhancements to the ADF’s current-generation Bushmasters, will start in 2027 at Thales Australia’s facility in Bendigo, Victoria.

“The delivery of these additional Bushmasters will significantly boost the ADF’s combat capability and force projection, as part of a modernised protected mobility fleet able to operate in our immediate region,” the Australian government stated. “Bushmasters are critical to the integrated force – including littoral manoeuvre, long-range fires and the amphibious-capable combined arms land system.”

The press release additionally stated that, in response to a request, the Australian government “has also agreed for recently delivered Bushmasters to be sold to the Netherlands”, adding, “This export provides further certainty to the Bendigo workforce, with Thales to replace these vehicles for the ADF in their next production round at no cost and in addition to this new order for the army.”

The number of vehicles to be transferred to the Netherlands has not been disclosed, but at a press conference in Bendigo on 27 April Australian Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said the Dutch transfer replacements bring the next generation Bushmaster order to around 300.

Thales Australia is also producing Bushmasters to replace a total of 120 such vehicles that Australia has donated to Ukraine since April 2022.

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ The Military Balance, the ADF current operates around 875 Bushmaster vehicles.

On 28 April, a day after the next generation Bushmaster order was announced, the Australian government stated that it had selected HIMARS and the PrSM to enhance the ADF’s long-range strike capability, noting that it would invest AUD 2.3 billion over the decade and deliver to the Australian Army a second long‑range fires regiment at the Edinburgh Defence Precinct in South Australia.

“A second long‑range fires regiment will significantly enhance the ADF’s ability to engage targets at ranges of up to 500 km, transforming to more than 1,000 km with future increments of PrSM,” the government stated. “This will increase our capacity to respond effectively to contingencies in our region and work with our allies and partners.

“As set out in the recently released 2026 Integrated Investment Program, the Albanese government is investing up to AUD 37 billion over the next decade, including enabling data and systems, to develop and enhance the Royal Australian Navy, Army and the Royal Australian Air Force’s targeting and long-range strike capabilities.”

HIMARS is already in service with the Australian Army, forming its first long-range fires regiment. An initial 20 HIMARS units were ordered in May 2022, followed by an additional 22 ordered in August 2023. A request for a third batch of 48 HIMARS under the US Foreign Military Sales regime was approved in September 2025.

During the multilateral US-Australian-led Exercise ‘Talisman Sabre 2025’, held across Australia from 13 July to 4 August of that year, Australian Army HIMARS units were able to fire PrSM round for the first time. Last year Australia and the United States established a cooperative programme for PrSM to pave the way for future production of PrSM rounds in Australia.

Regarding the ADF’s next generation Bushmaster PMVs, these will have a number of enhancements compared to the existing fleet, which Thales listed as follows:

• Increased capacity for carrying personnel and increased tow capacity
• Stronger additional armour;
• The ability to carry more powerful weapons systems, including roof mounted effectors
• An opportunity to integrate a wide range of sensors and effectors to efficiently defeat threats;
• A fully modular crew cabin, allowing for versatile configurations based on user needs; and
• A design with exports in mind, with left-hand drive capability and next-gen comms interfaces.

However, at the Bendigo press conference on 27 April Conroy noted that the next generation Bushmasters will feature “greater power, because one thing we’ll be fitting onto these is remote weapon stations to deal with drones, including directed-energy weapons”.

Around 1,400 Bushmasters in more than 12 variants have been built by Thales Australia at Bendigo. As well as serving with the ADF, Bushmasters have been exported to eight nations, including the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Japan, and have also been gifted by the ADF to Ukraine.