In an important milestone for the Australian Defence Force, the Boxer combat reconnaissance vehicle has reached Initial Operational Capability on schedule under Project Land 400 Phase 2. The Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Simon Stuart said the Boxer was tested during Exercise Sea Raider and is now employed within the Australian Army’s 7th Brigade. The Boxer is being delivered from Rheinmetall’s factories in Redbank, Queensland and Germany, with support from many Australian companies. Australia has a reputation for building high-quality military vehicles. The Boxer will build on this established national industrial expertise.
The Project Land 400 Phase 2 is a great example of the way Defence and industry work together to deliver large-scale and complex capabilities. Australian industry will continue to benefit from the multi-billion dollar Boxer Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle project. Rheinmetall’s 420 Australian staff will build five different variants of the vehicle, with a total of 211 scheduled to be built by 2027. Rheinmetall will also continue to deliver upgrades and conduct repairs at the Redbank facility. This combination of variants and ability to upgrade them here in Australia makes the Boxer an incredibly adaptable vehicle that modern Australian Army needs.
“Exercise Sea Raider demonstrated the important capability boost provided by the Boxer, and its place as part of the land force and joint operations. The Boxer will protect our soldiers in high-threat environments as they seek information about an adversary. This information will then help direct our combined arms fighting system for best combat effectiveness. The Boxer can fight its way out of trouble using its 30mm cannon, and as we have just seen during Exercise Sea Raider, can be deployed from amphibious ships. The Boxer improves our ability to succeed on operations and survive in battle,” Lieutenant General Stuart said.
The Boxer is a multirole armoured fighting vehicle designed to accomplish a number of operations through the use of installable mission modules which allow several configurations to meet different operational requirements. The Boxer vehicle is produced by the ARTEC GmbH industrial group, and the programme is being managed by OCCAR. The Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle (CRV) is a development of the baseline Boxer designed to fulfil the Australian Land 400 Phase 2 requirement. It mounts the Rheinmetall Defence Lance modular turret system (MTS) fitted with the MK30-2/ABM cannon. Other variants being developed for Australia are an Ambulance, a Command & Control, a Joint Fires, a Surveillance, and Repair & Recovery variants.
