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| Down Under |
| Australian Bushmaster armoured vehicles painted and ready to fly to Ukraine within days |
| 2022-04-06 |
| [ABC.AU] Four ADF Bushmaster vehicles have been hastily repainted and modified so they can be flown to Europe within days of a direct public request from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. During Thursday's historic address to parliament the Ukrainian leader caught Defence by surprise when he nominated the troop carriers as a practical example of what Australia could provide his nation as it fights a Russian invasion. Immediately following President Zelenskyy's historic address the Defence department scrambled to work out how best to get the Bendigo-built armoured vehicles to the war-torn nation in Eastern Europe quickly. Now the ABC can reveal the first four troop carriers were repainted and refitted in Brisbane over the weekend ahead of their delivery to RAAF Base Amberley, where they are expected to be loaded onto a C-17 Globemaster before being flown to Europe. A RAAF Globemaster can carry up to four Bushmasters on board at any one time, but it is understood the ADF is also examining whether some of the vehicles used by the Dutch military could be given to the Ukrainians as well. During the Afghanistan war the Bushmaster was credited for saving the lives of Australian soldiers, with the Dutch government buying more than 100 of them. The UK Defence Force is believed to operate around 20 of the vehicles. Last week Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared Australia would meet President Zelenskyy's request, by "not just sending our prayers … we're going to be sending our armoured vehicles, our bushmasters as well, and we'll be flying them over on our C-17s". |
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