Rheinmetall signs ADF Boxer contract

Rheinmetall Defence Australia has signed the contract worth A$3.3 billion with the Australian government to supply 211 Boxer wheeled armoured vehicles to the Australian Army.

The vehicle's selection was announced in March. Delivery of the advanced 8x8 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles (CRV) will take place between 2019 and 2026.

The Australian Defence Force will introduce several variants of Boxer, with the reconnaissance variant accounting for 133 of the 211 vehicles. It is to be equipped with Rheinmetall’s Lance turret system and armed with a 30mm automatic cannon.

In 2016, the Boxer CRV was selected under Australia’s Land 400 Phase 2 project as one of two candidates for Risk Mitigation Activity trials, where the 8x8 wheeled armoured vehicle had to demonstrate its survivability, mobility, firepower, and command and control.

Ben Hudson, head of Rheinmetall’ s Vehicle Systems Division, said: ‘The Boxer CRV is highly protected against both asymmetric threats that have been faced by Australian soldiers in recent operations, while also being highly protected against conventional battlefield threats that our soldiers may face one day in a conventional war-fighting scenario.’

Related Equipment in Defence Insight

Boxer CRV