diff --git a/scripts/trigger-release-build b/scripts/trigger-release-build
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..c05368f5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/trigger-release-build
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+cd mvn-defaults
+#set -x
+CURRENT_VERSION=$(mvn help:evaluate -Dexpression=revision -q -DforceStdout)
+RELEASE_VERSION=${CURRENT_VERSION%%-SNAPSHOT}
+RELEASE_TAG="${RELEASE_VERSION}-release"
+printf "release tag: '%s'\n" "${RELEASE_TAG}"
+set -e
+
+if [ "$1" == "-f" ]
+then
+ git tag -f "${RELEASE_TAG}" \
+ && git push -f origin "${RELEASE_TAG}" \
+ && printf "force pushed tag %s to origin, triggering build.\n" "${RELEASE_TAG}"
+else
+ git tag "${RELEASE_TAG}" \
+ && git push origin "${RELEASE_TAG}" \
+ && printf "pushed tag %s to origin, triggering build.\n" "${RELEASE_TAG}"
+fi
+
+