An international partner has awarded Rheinmetall an order to supply Fuchs 2 armoured personnel carrier components for producing the wheeled armoured vehicle at a factory in the partner country. The current follow up orders also include kits for conversion and the supply of spare part packages. Booked in December 2023, the order is worth a figure in the three-digit million-euro range. Delivery of the kits — both for production and conversion — starts this year and will be complete in 2028. The production facility in the partner country has seen an increase in added value in recent years as well as investments to ensure high-quality machining, welding and surface treatment. This long-standing strategic partnership is thus entering a new, promising phase, including the potential export of Fuchs 2 vehicles produced in the partner country. The Fuchs success story continues with this large-volume order.
The TPz Fuchs from Transportpanzer Fuchs is a German armoured personnel carrier originally developed by Daimler-Benz but manufactured and further developed by the now Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles (RMMV). Fuchs was the second wheeled armoured vehicle to enter service with the Bundeswehr (West German Military)[4] and it can be used for tasks including troop transport, engineer transport, bomb disposal, Nuclear, Biological and Chemical reconnaissance and electronic warfare. RMMV and its predecessors manufactured 1,236 Fuchs 1, mostly for the German Army. The Bundeswehr has a total of around 940 Fuchs vehicles in its inventory, 272 of which are version 1A8. This version of the Fuchs 1 offers substantially better protection against mines and improvised explosive devices compared to earlier models; it also features enhanced protection against ballistic threats.
Further development of the design resulted in the Fuchs 2, first shown in 2001. The enhanced Fuchs 2 is currently in production, known customers include Algerian Army, Kuwait Army and the United Arab Emirates Army (UAE). The Fuchs 2 is an advanced version of the Fuchs 1, featuring a larger interior, a more powerful engine, an updated chassis, improved modern protection, and a digital electrical system. the first example of which was shown in public for the first time at the 2001 MSPO in Poland. The first order for Fuchs 2 was for Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) reconnaissance variants for the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The order was placed in 2005. In 2014, the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy confirmed that it had approved the transfer of production equipment to Algeria to enable this country to undertake production of the Fuchs 2. Kuwait ordered a batch of Fuchs 2 in 2015. These will be manufactured in Germany.
The baseline Fuchs 2 provides protection against small arms armour-piercing attack through a full 360°. To meet different threat levels the Fuchs 2 has been designed to be fitted with enhanced passive armour packages developed by IBD. To enhance survivability while conducting Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT), Rheinmetall has developed a modular upgrade package for installation on tracked and wheeled armoured vehicles. The Fuchs 2 can be fitted with a wide range of weapon systems up to and including a 30 mm cannon and 7.62 mm MG as well as various missile installations, such as anti-tank missiles. Standard equipment for the Fuchs 2 includes an NBC system and an air conditioning system. Numerous options available include an automatic fire detection and suppression system, winch, global positioning system and an auxiliary power unit (APU).
