STARK and Thales Australia team up to build Cascade loitering munitions for the Bushmaster

On October 7, 2026, the Berlin-based defence company STARK announced a new partnership with Thales Australia to develop, produce and supply loitering munitions in Australia. The first product to be integrated is Cascade, STARK’s tube-launched loitering munition, which will be fitted to the new Bushmaster configuration that Thales Australia showed at the Land Forces exhibition in Perth.

A launcher that fits on a vehicle

The universal tube launcher can be added quickly to vehicles and other platforms, giving smaller mobile units a tactical edge. On the Bushmaster it will allow massed precision strikes out to 100 kilometres.

Cascade is a day-and-night precision munition designed to defeat enemy air defences and hit point targets. Several can be launched at once from a tube, a multi-cell launcher or containerised systems on vehicles and vessels, and STARK has already demonstrated launches from the Vanta uncrewed surface vessel.

Key specifications

• Range: up to 100 km
• Speed: cruise 100 km/h, dive 220 km/h
• Flight time: 60 minutes
• Payload: 4.5 kg
• Weight: launcher plus munition under 20 kg, so more than 10 can be carried on one vehicle

Artificial intelligence and sensor fusion allow navigation without GNSS, object recognition and precise terminal tracking. The data link is resistant to electronic warfare and works with STARK’s Minerva command-and-control software.

STARK and Greece

STARK is a European defence manufacturer with activities in Germany, Ukraine, the UK, Greece and Sweden. On February 13, 2026 it announced a Greek office, STARK Defence Greece, as its regional office for Southern Europe.