Media Release

DPAO 069/99
 Thursday, March 11, 1999

MEDIA ALERT

DEMONSTRATION OF VEHICLE CHOSEN FOR $200 MILLION AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE CONTRACT NEAR CANBERRA TODAY

At Majura Range in Canberra this afternoon (11/3), Army and civilian drivers will demonstrate capabilities the new Bushmaster vehicle chosen to equip Australian Defence Force infantry units.

The demonstration follows the announcement by the Minister for Defence, Mr John Moore, yesterday that the Bushmaster had been selected from two vehicles shortlisted for exhaustive trials around Australia last year.

ADI Limited is the preferred tenderer to manufacture and support 350 of the Infantry Mobility Vehicles (IMVs) in Bendigo at a cost of some $200 million.

Features of the vehicles include:

  • Capacity for nine, fully-equipped soldiers;
  • Protection against small arms fire and mine blasts
  • Airconditioning, ergonomic seats and chilled water to improve habitability during extended deployments
  • Stowage capacity for three days of operations
  • 4WD with automatic transmission and central tyre inflation system
  • Highway speeds of better than 100 kph.
NOTE FOR NEWS EDITORS, CHIEFS-OF-STAFF:
The entrance to Majura Range, past the airport to the right of Majura Road, will be marked by a grey Land Rover.

DEMONSTRATION STARTS AT 2PM

PROJECT DIRECTOR LIEUTENANT COLONEL MIKE PHELPS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW
Contact: Tony Underwood (02) 6265 2703

ADI LIMITED ARE HAPPY TO COMMENT ON THEIR SELECTION.
Their contact: Leigh Funston (02) 9365 9313

 

Further information . . .

 

Issued by the Defence Public Affairs Organisation, Department of Defence, Canberra, ACT, 2600

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