Australia Inks Boxer Heavy Weapon Carrier Vehicle Production Contract

Rheinmetall has announced that Australia has signed the production contract for 123 Boxer Heavy Weapon Carrier vehicles with more than 100 of those vehicles to be exported from Australia for use by the German Army.

This is Australia’s largest foreign military export to Germany.

The procurement of the Heavy Weapon Carrier vehicles is based on a mutual agreement between the Australian and the German Government. Rheinmetall has announced the contract with the German authorities with a total volume of €2.7 billion, including maintenance and repair, after the commissioning in March 2024. The corresponding production contract has now been awarded in Australia.

Deliveries are scheduled to start in 2025 with the first Australian-built vehicle to be delivered in 2026.

The Heavy Weapon Carrier, or “Schwerer Waffenträger Infanterie” vehicle is based on the Australian Army’s Boxer Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle (CRV).

The Boxer armored 8x8 vehicle is designed to prioritize troop safety, security, and protection while offering substantial firepower and mobility for diverse operational needs, ranging from peacekeeping to high-intensity combat scenarios.

The CRV (Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle) incorporates a specialized reconnaissance mission module equipped with a two-person digital Lance turret, representing the first implementation of a crewed medium-caliber turret on the Boxer platform.

The German Boxers are to be produced at Rheinmetall’s Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence at Redbank in South East Queensland.

In addition to the 211 Boxer vehicles ordered under Australia’s LAND 400 Phase 2 project – 133 of which are the CRV variant with the crewed digital Lance turret – the company also services the Australian Army’s HX truck fleet, which comprises more than 2,900 vehicles, provides the MASS Multi-Ammunition Soft-Kill System to the Royal Australian Navy, manages training systems for Defence and has delivered more than 200 HX Trucks to the New Zealand Defence Force.