The Slovenian government, represented by the European procurement organization OCCAR, and ARTEC, a consortium of Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Rheinmetall, have signed a contract for the delivery of 45 BOXER wheeled vehicles in four different variants. The volume of the order amounts to EUR 281.5 million. Delivery of the BOXER vehicles is scheduled to begin in 2024 and be completed in 2026. Now that EU and NATO member Slovenia has joined the BOXER program, it has six user states.
The BOXER is a highly protected 8×8 wheeled vehicle. Its modular architecture allows a diversity of variants like no other vehicle system. So far, approximately 1,500 vehicles in twenty different versions are under contract in the four NATO member states Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania and the United Kingdom. NATO partner state Australia has opted for the BOXER as well. ARTEC GmbH was founded in 1999 and is a joint venture between Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co. KG, Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH and Rheinmetall Defence Nederland B.V.
The first vehicle deliveries are expected in 2023 from Krauss-Maffei Wegmann through the ARTEC consortium. The Slovenian BOXER vehicles will be based on the Lithuanian BOXER (named VILKAS) design including a remote controlled turret from Rafael. The BOXER Programme now has 5 Participating States, with other nations including Germany, Netherlands, Lithuania and the United Kingdom. The BOXER Programme provides the German (DE), Netherlands (NL), Lithuanian and the United Kingdom (UK) Armies, with a new generation of all terrain armoured utility vehicles.
In December 2006, OCCAR placed the contract for series production of 272 vehicles for DE and 200 vehicles for NL with ARTEC GmbH – a consortium formed by Krauss Maffei Wegmann, Rheinmetall Landsysteme and Rheinmetall Nederland. For DE, all vehicles have been delivered and are undergoing retrofit to the A2 variant. A new batch of 131 A2 vehicles are now in progress. For NL, the last deliveries of batch 1 is due in December 2020, and the responsibilities for the in-service NL fleet will be handed over from Defence Material Organisation to NL Army.
