Battle damaged Bushmaster windshield ARN 209330

Battle-damaged Bushmaster protected mobility vehicle windshield. Trapezodial metal frame surrounding ballistically protected glass. The glass has entirely cracked over its entire surface, but is completely present. Frame is powder coated black. A series of metal tabs are attached to each of the sides of the frame. These are pierced to allow the frame to be bolted onto the vehicle. There are 3 tabs on each side, 9 on the lower frame, and 7 on the upper frame.

This windshield was originally mounted on Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle 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.