Footage of the Rheinmetall Boxer CRV during the user evaluations component of the Australian Army’s Land 400 Phase 2 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle project. The Boxer CRV is shown live firing and driving on the vast Puckapunyal Training Area in Victoria, Australia. Rheinmetall Defence Australia is bidding its BOXER 8×8 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle in response to the Commonwealth Government of Australia’s LAND 400 Phase 2 – Mounted Combat Reconnaissance Capability Request for Tender (RFT). Rheinmetall Defence Australia has the capacity to deliver the most survivable and lethal Mounted Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle from a portfolio of in-service systems. The Combat proven BOXER, LANCE Turret, Air Burst Munitions, Active Defence Systems and advanced simulation systems are all designed, produced and delivered by Rheinmetall.
The Boxer is a German-Dutch multirole armoured fighting vehicle designed to accomplish a number of operations through the use of installable mission modules. It is produced by the ARTEC GmbH (ARmoured vehicle TEChnology) industrial group, and the programme is being managed by OCCAR (Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation). ARTEC GmbH is seated in Munich, its parent companies are Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH and Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles GmbH (RMMV) on the German side, and Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles Nederland B.V. for the Netherlands. Overall, Rheinmetall has a 64% stake in the joint venture.
The Boxer is an eight-wheeled multirole vehicle, which at the time of its development easily dwarfed most contemporary vehicles with its size. With a combat weight of 33 tonnes, it was also about 10 tonnes heavier than many of its contemporaries. In recent years the size/weight differences between Boxer and its contemporaries has reduced considerably, with Boxer quoted to have a combat weight of 36,500 kg in 2016, while vehicles such as ST Kinetics’ Terrex 3 had a quoted combat weight of 35 tonnes, and Nexter’s VBCI, Patria’s AMV and General Dynamics’ Piranha V all weighing in around the 32 to 33 tonne mark.
