The British Army will receive 100 additional Boxer vehicles, the country’s prime minister announced earlier this month.
The announcement comes as a joint production of the Boxer Mechanised Infantry Vehicles (MIV) by the UK and Germany begins in Telford, Stockport, and Munich. The two countries will work together to produce 623 of the armored platforms.
The MIV can transport soldiers and be reconfigured for other battlefield roles.
“This joint program will ensure our militaries have state-of-the-art equipment as the invasion of Ukraine shakes the very foundations of European peace and security,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement.
Total Procurement
The total procurement includes different vehicle variants, including infantry carriers, command vehicles, specialist carriers, and ambulances. Some variants will also be equipped with Javelin anti-tank missiles.
The first 117 armored vehicles are already being produced in Germany, while the remaining 506 units will be manufactured at UK facilities in Telford and Stockport.
The first units will arrive next year.
OCCAR Collaboration
In 2018, the UK said it would rejoin the Boxer program with the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) to modernize its armored car fleet. The country played a significant role during the initial design and development in 1998.
In November 2019, the UK government, represented by OCCAR, and Germany’s Rheinmetall-Krauss-Maffei Wegmann consortium Artec signed a contract worth 2.8 billion pounds ($3.7 billion) for 523 Boxers.
