Why did the Australian military hand over right-hand drive Bushmaster armored cars to the APU
Australia has sent 20 Bushmaster armored personnel carriers to Ukraine, Ukrainian Ambassador to Canberra Vasyl Miroshnichenko said. Western military experts criticize this machine and remind that Australia has not been able to arrange the sale of Bushmaster to other countries. What is wrong with the Australian armored car and whether it will help the APU - in the material of the "Newspaper.Ru».
Bushmaster was developed in Australia in 1998 as an armored vehicle for the transportation of troops and infantry. The tests of the two-axle truck took five years and proved the ability of the machine to withstand the detonation of a land mine with a capacity of up to 9 kg in TNT equivalent. The soldiers inside were protected by an armored capsule with a V-shaped bottom that dissipates the blast wave and minimizes injuries.
The armored plates that cover the body of the car, as well as the armored windows of the driver's cab, are able to withstand bullets of 7.62 mm caliber. A medical vehicle and a mobile command post were created on the basis of the main model. Australian cars are made in right-hand drive configuration, which means that the Ukrainian military will have to retrain in order to drive them correctly.
The deliveries were the response of the Australian government to the appeal of the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, who made a video call to the Australian parliament on March 31 and asked for help in the form of weapons and equipment.
It is noteworthy that in the Western press this car was evaluated skeptically. In particular, she was criticized by a well-known British military expert, former Colonel of the British Army David Guthrie.
- Guthrie wrote in October 2020 in an article for Military Watch Magazine.
Sergei Belousov, a member of the Board of Military Experts, agrees with this position. "In fact, Australia gave Ukraine equipment that others did not want to take. This car, which is convenient to patrol the Australian deserts. This is where the functionality ends by and large. On rough terrain, it will no longer be good because of the gravity. By the way, the Australians handed over some of these armored cars from the military to firefighters," Belousov said "Газете.Ru ".
Konstantin Sivkov, Deputy President of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences, in turn, noted that the value of Australian equipment in the battles in Ukraine is "extremely small."
"This is a patrol car. Wheel formula 4x4, two-axle. Its value on the battlefield is extremely limited if it breaks through even with a large-caliber machine gun, not to mention an automatic cannon," Sivkov said in a conversation with Gazeta.Ru».
A military expert, retired Colonel Mikhail Tymoshenko, said that Bushmaster is easy to destroy with one aimless tank shot. "If you "break in" on it, even next to it, with a 122-mm caliber, then the fragment pierces the armor. It is not even necessary to hit exactly," Tymoshenko explained.
Alexey Leonkov, editor of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, called the Bushmaster an Australian Typhoon, comparing it to a Russian armored car produced by KAMAZ.
"In fact, this is an Australian Typhoon. This is an armored personnel carrier, which is designed to transport personnel in a combat zone. But he will not enter into direct clashes, because he will not be able to withstand the impact of a shell from a tank or a 30-mm armor-piercing shell," Leonkov said.
According to the expert, the AFU can use "Bushmasters" to transport sabotage groups armed with mortars, grenade launchers and portable anti-aircraft missile systems.
- the expert explained.
Denis Telmanov