Thales Australia has reconfigured its Bushmaster Dual Cab protected vehicle as a mobile counter-drone and precision-strike platform, unveiling the variant at the Land Forces 2026 exhibition in Perth, held October 6 to 8, 2026. The vehicle carries Thales’s RapidStriker counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) and launchers for Cascade, a tube-launched loitering munition built by German firm STARK. The two companies also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop, manufacture and deploy loitering munitions in Australia.
The demonstration comes less than six months after Canberra committed AU$750 million on April 27, 2026, to 268 next-generation Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicles (PMVs), with production at the Bendigo, Victoria, plant due to start in 2027. More than 1,300 Bushmasters have been built there and exported to eight countries, including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Japan. Thales previewed the armed utility concept in June, showing RapidStriker on the Bushmaster 5.6 Mulga utility variant at Eurosatory in Paris.
RapidStriker Turns the Bushmaster Dual Cab Into a C-UAS Node
Thales launched RapidStriker at Eurosatory on June 15, 2026, as a vehicle-agnostic C-UAS package. The Paris configuration paired a 360-degree radar from Robin Radar Systems with a multi-sensor optronic system, Thales’s IRIS detection and classification software and a weapon management system that fuses sensor tracks and assigns targets across effectors. Those effectors included 68mm or 70mm laser-guided rockets in a twin 12-round launcher, a remote weapon station with cannon, the Eclipse jammer and the Toutatis remotely operated munition.
For the Perth demonstrator, Thales highlighted 70mm laser-guided and unguided rockets against drones, helicopters and other aerial threats, stating the vehicle can detect, identify, track and neutralize a target within seconds before relocating. Thales has not disclosed the rocket load or any other effectors fitted to the Dual Cab. Thales also says the vehicle is optimized for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR), with onboard systems fusing data in real time, and RapidStriker is interoperable with the SkyDefender integrated air and missile defense architecture. A vehicle that cues its own rockets and feeds a wider air picture gives a maneuver unit a local C-UAS bubble without drawing on dedicated short-range air defense assets. Publicly available specifications for the earlier Dual Cab Utility list a gross vehicle mass of 17,200 kg and an 800 km road range; figures for the 2026 configuration have not been released.
Cascade Loitering Munitions Add 100-Kilometer Strike Reach
STARK, a Berlin-headquartered drone maker, unveiled Cascade on June 8, 2026, under the designation OWE-T, for one-way effector, tube-launched. The company offers range options of 40, 60 or 100 km depending on battery configuration, endurance of up to one hour, a payload of up to 4.5 kg and launch readiness in under one minute. Electro-optical and infrared sensors enable navigation without GNSS, a prerequisite in jammed environments, and the munition integrates with STARK’s Minerva mission command software.
On the Bushmaster, Cascade fires from a vehicle-mounted multi-cell launcher sized for salvo employment against command posts, logistics hubs, artillery positions and air defense systems. Thales has not confirmed the cell count of the launcher shown in Perth. “Combining it with Bushmaster creates a mobile precision-strike capability with up to 100 kilometres of range that we are able to field immediately,” said Johannes Schaback, STARK’s chief technology officer. No Australian order for Cascade has been announced.
Analysis: The package compresses two missions that normally sit at different echelons, local drone defense and deep precision strike, onto a protected vehicle Australia already fields in large numbers. The MoU carries more weight for Canberra than the demonstrator itself: domestic loitering munition production would fit the Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Enterprise drive for sovereign stockpiles. Maturity remains the constraint. Cascade was unveiled four months ago, RapidStriker’s full system has yet to complete integrated testing, and neither holds an Australian Army contract.
Three markers will show whether the configuration moves beyond a trade show demonstrator: completion of RapidStriker integrated testing, which Thales targets for the end of 2026 ahead of production in 2027; disclosure of the MoU’s value, workshare and production site, none of which has been released; and whether the Army specifies a RapidStriker or Cascade fit for the 268 next-generation Bushmasters entering production at Bendigo in 2027.