The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed that Australia will export 100 Boxer armoured vehicles to Germany.
These will be eventually replacing the current “Wiesel” (weasel) with the German Armed Forces, to serve as a direct tactical fire support platform for its infantry units.
The value to the deal is expected to be more than $1 billion, making it one of the largest defence export deals in history.
Further, these are to be built in Australia and are intended for the German Army’s “schwerer Waffenträger Infanterie” (heavy weapon carrier infantry), a direct tactical fire support vehicle for infantry forces.
The vehicles, to be manufactured by Rheinmetall Defence Australia at its Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, are an 8X8-wheeled, all-terrain, Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles (CRV) – “Boxer CRV” – developed for Australia’s Land 400 Phase 2 program.
Besides, the Boxer CRV is equipped with a reconnaissance vehicle mission module including the two-man Lance turret.
Its main armament is the Rheinmetall MK30-2 ABM automatic cannon, which also features in the German Puma infantry fighting vehicle.
Delivery is scheduled to begin in 2025.
About Boxer armoured vehicles
The Boxer armoured transport vehicle is being produced under a bi-national programme. Highly mobile, it is a state-of-the-art wheeled vehicle whose modular design permits a wide variety of mission-specific configurations.
Consisting of a uniform drive module, the Boxer vehicle family’s user-specific mission modules can be quickly exchanged.
A number of mission variants are currently under development, including a troop carrier for transporting an infantry section, a field ambulance, a combat engineering section vehicle, C4I and C2 command vehicles, a logistics vehicle and a battlefield maintenance vehicle.
Having joined forces to form the ARTEC consortium, Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles (RMMV) manufactures the Boxer in cooperation with fellow German defence contractor Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) under a bi-national programme, in which Rheinmetall holds a 64% stake.
The German Boxer vehicles will be built, utilizing production capacity at Rheinmetall’s state-of-the-art Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence (MILVEHCOE) at Redbank in South East Queensland, alongside the Boxer CRV being produced for the Australian Defence Force.
