Wheeled Apcs
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Wheeled APCs WHEELED ARMORED PERSONNEL CARRIERS Australian Wheeled APCs Austrian Wheeled APCs Belgian Wheeled APCs Brazilian Wheeled APCs British Wheeled APCs Canadian Wheeled APCs Chilean Wheeled APCs Chinese Wheeled APCs Croatian Wheeled APCs Czech Wheeled APCs Dutch Wheeled APCs Egyptian Wheeled APCs Finnish Wheeled APCs French Wheeled APCs German Wheeled APCs Guatemalan Wheeled APCs Hungarian Wheeled APCs Indian Wheeled APCs International Wheeled APCs Irish Wheeled APCs Israeli Wheeled APCs Italian Wheeled APCs Japanese Wheeled APCs Mexican Wheeled APCs North Korean Wheeled APCs Portuguese Wheeled APCs Romanian Wheeled APCs Russian Wheeled APCs Salvadoran Wheeled APCs Saudi Wheeled APCs Slovakian Wheeled APCs South African Wheeled APCs Spanish Wheeled APCs Swedish Wheeled APCs Swiss Wheeled APCs Turkish Wheeled APCs Ukrainian Wheeled APCs US Wheeled APCs Yugoslavian Wheeled APCs file:///E/My%20Webs/misc_pages/armored_personnel_carriers_3.html[3/22/2020 5:55:29 PM] Australian Wheeled APCs ADI/Thales Australia Bushmaster Notes: The Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle was designed as a successor to the S-600, under the Bushranger Infantry Mobility Vehicle competition; it eventually emerged as the winner of that competition, with development beginning in 1998. The development and testing process was long, incloved, and troubled, and deliveries did not begin until 2005. The Bushmaster is based on a design originally conceived by the Irish company of Timoney; considerable portions of the Bushmaster are therefore manufactured under a licensing agreement with Timoney, though production is undertaken wholly in Australia. ADI began the part of the design process done in Australia, but production later passed to Thales Australia, who also developed several variants. (Virtually all of these variants differ primarily in internal arrangements and equipment; externally, almost all of the different versions differ little from each other.) The primary users of the Bushmaster are the Australian Army and Air Force, but it is also used by the Dutch Army and British Army. The Bushmaster was also evaluated by the US Army and Marines; though they ultimately went with another vehicle to fill their light MRAP requirement, they have not completely closed the door on Bushmaster acquisition, and Oshkosh Trucks stands ready to set up a license-production line just in case. The United Arab Emirates, Spain, and Iraq are also trialing the Bushmaster. The Bushmaster, like the S-600, is a wheeled APC with for the most part average protection levels for a vehicle of its type. (Thales Australia terms the Bushmaster an Infantry Mobility Vehicle, or IMV, to underscore the role that the primary role of the Bushmaster is battlefield transport and not for troops to fight from the vehicle.) However, the Bushmaster is also an MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicle, and has a lower hull design with a V-shaped bottom designed to deflect the blast from a mine or IED away from the vehicle. Though this design does not necessarily allow the Bushmaster to hit a mine and get away unscathed, the design offers enhanced protection to the crew and troops inside, even if, for example, the blast is enough to blow the wheels off or immobilize the suspension or damage the automotive components. In addition to the protection afforded by the hull floor in the stats below, the crew, troops, and equipment inside a Bushmaster which hits a mine or IED have the damage they suffer reduced by 25%. The anti-mine features are also enhanced by the Bushmaster’s high suspension and run-flat tires. The armor of the Bushmaster is of all-welded steel, leaving no rivets to pop loose and ricochet around the interior of the vehicle upon a hit. The armor of the Bushmaster can be supplemented by appliqué armor. Configuration-wise, the Bushmaster greatly resembles the S-600, though the nose is tall and flat in the front with a large grille with armored shutters in front, and a gently-sloping section back to the windshield. The windshield is a single large piece of bullet-resistant glass; the sides of the cab have relatively small windows, also of bullet-resistant glass. Depending upon customer requirements, the sides of the troop compartment may have up to three windows of varying sizes, and the large rear door likewise has a window of a size depending upon the wishes of the buyer. Each side of the vehicle may have two or three firing ports; the rear door also has a firing port. Like the S-600, spare tires are found on the sides of the hull on either side of the rear, and projecting slightly out from the rear; the rear door itself is actually quite narrow. The Bushmaster does not have a separate gunner’s position; instead, the commander in the right-hand seat mans the vehicle’s weapon. Depending upon the role of the vehicle and the requirements of the buyer, this position may be a simple hatchway, a manually-rotating cupola, or an electrically-rotating cupola. This position may be armed with a variety of light, medium, or heavy machineguns or automatic grenade launchers (examples are given below in the stats). Most of the time, the commander’s position is surrounded by AV2 gun shields. In 2008, the Dutch began putting a Thales SWARM OHWS on some of their Bushmasters in lieu of the standard commander’s position, giving it a superior weapons fit with assistance from a laser rangefinder, ballistic computer, and several telescopic and night vision sighting devices. Some Australian Army vehicles have also had a similar modification, but based on the US-made Raven CROWS OHWS; these modifications began in 2007. There are two hatches on the rear roof of the troop compartment; to the rear of each hatch is a mounting point for a pintle to allow a SAW-type weapon to be mounted (usually the Minimi in the countries which are using the Bushmaster so far); these are manned by the infantry squad in the rear. I have included these in the stats below. I have also included two clusters of four smoke grenade launchers on the hull roof behind the cab area, another optional feature often fitted. Originally, the versions in use by the Australian Army and Australian Air Force differed greatly internally, with the Army version having less space for troops and more for storage of weapons, equipment, and ammunition. In addition, the Army version was initially fitted with a 270-liter tank internally for drinking water, and had a separate gunner’s station. The gunner’s hatchway is normally plated over. However, the Australian Army (and those used by other countries) have since removed much of the dedicated storage and the water tank, and has drawn closer to the Security Vehicle version used by the Australian Air Force, which can carry more troops. Of course, this has led to much troop equipment as well as some boxes containing ammunition being carried externally on the roof or sides of the vehicle. The original IMV version and the Security Version have therefore essentially merged in design, with the Security Version now being called an IMV. Though in the stats below, I refer to the original IMV version as the “IMV” and the version being used now as simply the “Bushmaster,” keep in mind that the old Security Version is now the standard Bushmaster version. The Bushmaster is powered by a Caterpillar 3126E turbocharged diesel engine, developing 330 horsepower, and coupled to a fully automatic transmission. As stated above, the suspension is high and well-cushioned, more to provide additional mine protection for the crew and troops inside than for comfort. This suspension, however, also gives it excellent cross-country mobility. Other APC-type versions of the Bushmaster include a command variant, which externally differs primarily in the extra antennas and internally has two short-range, two medium-range, and one long-range radio, the latter of which is data-capable. It carries a ruggedized laptop computer and has simple map boards and plotting and office-type supplies for use by the command crew. An armored ambulance version exists, able to carry four stretcher cases or two stretcher cases and three seated patients in the rear in addition to two medics, and having equipment such as an oxygen administration set, a defibrillator, the equivalent of two doctor’s medical bags and 20 personal medical kits, and various other medical supplies such as splints, bandages, cravats, etc. The armored ambulance is unarmed. Other non-APC variants include a combat engineer vehicle and a mortar carrier. There is also a “Direct Fire file:///E/My%20Webs/wheeled_apcs/australian_wheeled_apcs.htm[3/22/2020 5:55:38 PM] Australian Wheeled APCs Weapons Variant,” which I have, unfortunately, have not been able to find anything about; any help here would be appreciated. The newest member of the family, due to enter service in late 2011 or early 2012 with the Australian Army and Air Force, is a logistics carrier version called the Armored Combat Support Vehicle (ASCV). This version retains the cab of the standard bushmaster along with a small space behind the seats for crew equipment, but the rear is replaced by a flatbed load deck equipped with tie-down and lock-down points, and designed especially for palletized and containerized cargoes. The cargo bed has retractable rollers in it, and ramps are carried to help roll the pallets or containers off of the cargo bed. The ASCV is also equipped with a small crane along a “wall” against the rear of the cab which has a capacity of three tons. The lower hull retains the V-shaped bottom and the cab contains the same anti-mine protection for the crew. Above the commander’s position is a ring mount for a machinegun or grenade launcher.