Rheinmetall Wins Bundeswehr Contract For Fuchs/Fox Armoured Transport Vehicles Upgrade

Rheinmetall has won €135 million from Bundeswehr (unified armed force of Germany) for survivability upgrades of Fuchs/Fox armoured transport vehicles.

Under the contract, Rheinmetall will modernize ninety of the Bundeswehr’s long-serving Fuchs/Fox armoured transport vehicles, the company announced today.

Germany’s Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) in Koblenz awarded Rheinmetall the contract following a decision by the budget committee of the German Parliament to make the necessary funds available.

Delivery of the vehicles is slated to start in 2017 and end in 2020, Rheinmetall Defence announced today.

In recent years Rheinmetall has already upgraded 177 Bundeswehr Fuchs/Fox vehicles to the latest 1A8 standard. Compared with previous versions, the 1A8 offers substantially greater resistance to landmines and improvised explosive devices, coupled with improved protection against ballistic threats.

The Fuchs/Fox armoured transport vehicle first entered service in the 1970s. It is currently being used in a number of international operations, such as MINUSMA in Mali, Resolute Support in Afghanistan and KFOR in Kosovo.

The Bundeswehr has already fielded multiple variants of the 1A8, including mobile command post and armoured personnel carrier versions, a field ambulance, an EOD vehicle as well as an NBC detection variant and the Route Clearing Package (RCP) operator vehicle used for neutralizing mines and improvised explosive devices.

Additional Fuchs/Fox armoured transport vehicles will now be reconfigured for command, APC and EOD roles, with an option for Joint Fire Support Coordination Team vehicles. This will bring the total number of 1A8 Fuchs/Fox vehicles deployed by the Bundeswehr to 267.

Structural alteration of the hull, and new seats and suspended seating in the fighting compartment to keep soldiers’ feet are few among the principal modifications that the Fuchs/Fox 1A8 armoured transport vehicle feature.