[Military Sub-Plane] By Friedrich Lau
Recently, OCCAL, on behalf of the Slovenian government, signed a procurement contract worth 282.15 million euros with ARTEC, delivering 45 boxer armored vehicles of four different types for Slovenia. Founded in 1999, ARTEC is a joint venture between Klaus-Maffei Wigmann, Rheinmetall and Ground Systems AG, which is responsible for the coordinated production and export of boxer armored vehicles. According to the plan, the delivery of the relevant vehicles will begin in 2024 and will be completed in 2026.
The Boxer Armored Vehicle is a multifunctional 8x8 wheeled armored vehicle jointly developed by Germany and the Netherlands, produced by ARTEC (ARmoured vehicle TEChnology), and the entire production project is managed by OCCAR. The vehicle has excellent protective performance, can provide members with the necessary survivability when attacked by improvised explosive devices, mines and anti-armor weapons, has a large payload, can carry 8 heavily armed soldiers at a time, has a high degree of informationization, can provide the necessary communication support for carrying infantry, and has the ability to fight in complex environments. The modular design makes it easy for boxers to meet the needs of different tasks by installing different equipment.
▲ German boxer armored vehicle equipped with FLW-200 weapons station
▲ Boxer ambulance model equipped by the German Army
Since its inception, the Boxer Armored Vehicle has been favored by many countries. In the autumn of 2006, the Dutch side announced the purchase of 200 Boxer armored vehicles to replace the old M577 and YPR-765 armored personnel carriers. On December 13 of the same year, on the basis of the first batch of 125 vehicles, the German parliament approved the purchase of an additional 272 boxers to replace the German army's older M113 and TPz-1 armored transport vehicles. Orders began to be delivered in 2009. In August 2016, Lithuania signed a contract worth 390 million euros to procure 88 boxers, most of which were basic, with a few exceptions. The vehicles are manufactured by Klaus-Maffei-Weggmann and Rheinmetall with lead times from 2017 to 2021.
▲ Command boxers equipped by the Dutch Army
▲ Boxer armored vehicles equipped by the Lithuanian Army
In the same year, Australia selected boxers as the target of purchase and received its first reconnaissance model on 24 September 2019. In October 2019, the UK government signed a contract for the purchase of 500 boxers, with the first deliveries to be completed in 2023. In July 2021, the UK announced that a new batch of boxer armored vehicles would be completed in the UK mainland. According to statistics, the current 5 countries are equipped with a total of 20 models with a total of more than 1500 boxer armored vehicles, with the signing of the purchase contract in Slovenia, the user group of boxers will increase to 6.
▲ British Army boxer armored vehicle on display
▲ The model of the Boxer Assault Gun equipped by the Australian Army