Battle damaged storage bin : Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle (ARN 209330)

Battle damaged storage bin from Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle (PMV) (ARN 209330). The bin is painted in the standard Australian Army colour scheme of tan and olive drab with '36C' marked in black tape on the hinged door. Significant blast damage is apparent to the right of the stowage bin door.

This storage bin is from Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle (PMV) ARN 209330. The Bushmaster was received by Defence at Joint Logistics Unit, Southern Queensland (JLU-SQ) on 3 August 2012 and deployed to the Middle East Area of Operations on 18 September.

It operated in Afghanistan from October 2012 until it was involved in an incident on 7 November, during which this storage bin was separated from the starboard side hull due to an improvised explosive device blast. Three soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment Task Group received minor wounds as a result of the incident. The vehicle was following two engineer vehicles at the tiime of the blast, which was estimated to have between 30 and 40 kilogrammes. The force of the blast was directed forwards away from the main passenger compartment. At that time the vehicle had only logged about 500 kilometres and 47 hours of use. The Bushmaster was returned to Australia in May 2013.

Bushmasters use an armoured v-shaped hull to protect its passengers from improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The sloped sides on the bottom of the hull act to deflect an upward blast away from the vehicle. The external storage bins are designed to shear off in such a blast.

• Battle damaged Bushmaster windshield ARN 209330