German defense and security solutions provider Rheinmetall has announced the delivery of 25 Boxer 8×8 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles (CRV) to the Australian Army as part of the $5.2 billion LAND 400 Phase 2 Mounted Combat Reconnaissance Capability project.
The delivery of this first batch will allow the army to continue towards Initial Operating Capability on schedule, while Rheinmetall transitions into the next phase of the LAND 400 Phase 2 program.
In total, Rheinmetall is set to deliver 211 Boxer 8×8 Vehicles in different versions, 131 of which will be of the CRV model. These will replace the Army’s Australian Light Armored Vehicles.
German Expertise
Gary Stewart, Managing Director of Rheinmetall Defense Australia, revealed that the delivery of the first batch was only made possible because of the production lines in Germany. They utilized this advantage in technology transfer to ensure that Australian workers and suppliers became acquainted with manufacturing techniques for highly complex military vehicles.
It was also revealed that the company currently has around 30 Australians living and working in Germany, working at Rheinmetall sites and learning from their German colleagues. According to the press release, this helped in “fostering close co-operation and a genuine partnership to realize the capability for the Australian Army.”
The Boxer is a multirole 8×8 wheeled armored vehicle that is expected to experience rapid growth in the next few years. New variants and upgrades are already underway, with around 1,200 vehicles across more than 20 different configurations under contract by Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania, and the UK.