30 more Bushmasters for Ukraine
Australia will provide another 30 Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles to Ukraine, expanding on our previous commitment of 90 Bushmasters.
FILE PHOTO: Australian Government-donated Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles bound for Ukraine at RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland, in April 2022. Photo by Corporal Jesse Kane.
This latest donation will take Australia’s total military assistance provided to more than $710 million and Australia’s overall assistance to Ukraine to approximately $890 million.
This announcement follows the recent gifting of 70 assorted military vehicles, a supply of critical 105mm ammunition and a $10 million contribution to the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund announced by Australia in late June.
It also builds on the commitment earlier this week to deploy a Royal Australian Air Force E-7A Wedgetail aircraft with up to 100 crew and support personnel to Germany for approximately six months from October to help protect a gateway of international humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine.
The Wedgetail will provide early warning in the event of any threats outside of Ukraine against the gateway for humanitarian and military assistance.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia continued to look for practical ways to assist the Ukraine government and people and, along with our international partners, help bring about a rapid conclusion to the Russian invasion.
“I am pleased to have met President Zelenskyy again [at a NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania] and to inform him of Australia’s decision to gift 30 additional Bushmasters to Ukraine,” Mr Albanese said.
“Australia remains steadfast in its commitment to support Ukraine.
“We are proud to provide additional Bushmaster vehicles to assist the brave men and women fighting for their home and their nation’s sovereignty.
“Russia unilaterally launched this illegal and immoral invasion and should withdraw its troops and end the conflict immediately.”
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It’s a bad idea. We need to keep our equipment for us and stop enabling some other war that we should not be not a part of.
Or maybe we send them our used vehicles, then order new ones from the factory, sustaining more jobs in Bendigo 😉
In fact, we did order 78 new PMVs in May as partial replacement for those sent to Ukraine.
Good point Brian and thanks for adding that we have ordered 78 new ones. We need to keep the production line ticking over and we need to replace what we are donating.