Boxer enters the ring

Nearly 30 years after the UK first became involved with the Boxer, it is now on the cusp of entering service with the British Army. With more orders in the pipeline, the Boxer programme will be critical to the future of the army and the UK’s armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) industry.

By and large, the past two decades have not been kind to the British Army. Faced with an ever more complex strategic situation and economic constraints, it has struggled to articulate a coherent vision for its future organisation. This has been exacerbated by a string of procurement debacles, with one of the most notable being its Ajax family of reconnaissance vehicles.

Against this background, the Army’s most recent attempt to procure the Boxer 8×8 AFV is a ray of sunshine in an otherwise gloomy sky. So far, the programme has been able to stick to its schedule even amidst the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the War in Ukraine. With UK production lines up and running and initial operational capability (IOC) imminent, the programme has acquired a momentum that looks set to be reinforced by additional orders.

Backwards and forwards

The UK is no stranger to the Boxer platform, having been intimately involved in its initial development. Recognising a need to replace and consolidate the British Army’s AFV fleet, in 1996 the UK joined forces with France and Germany to form what would become the Organisation for Joint Armament Co-operation (OCCAR) international procurement organisation and to develop a family of wheeled AFVs known as the Multi-Role Armoured Vehicle (MRAV). The Eurokonsortium proposal for a family of modular vehicles available in a 6×6 and 8×8 configuration was selected, with its UK contingent Alvis-Vickers developing and manufacturing prototypes before the UK withdrew from the programme in 2003, realising that the MRAV was too heavy to meet emerging requirements for AFVs to be deployable by C-130 transport aircraft.

The British Army flirted with the idea of procuring Boxer again in 2007, when a Boxer competed against two other platforms for the Future Rapid Effect System (FRES) Utility Vehicle programme, despite the fact that the original requirements for the FRES programme had led to the UK abandoning the Boxer in the first place.

It was not until 2016 that the British Army reacquainted itself with Boxer, after the UK government’s November 2015 defence review proposed the creation of two rapidly deployable Strike Brigades, in which a Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) would be required to provide protected mobility to the two mechanised infantry battalions in each brigade.

In what has become a familiar practice with Boxer, the British Army decided to satisfy its MIV requirement by rejoining OCCAR’s Boxer programme at the end of March 2018, without holding a competition. This allowed the UK to reassume the rights to build and export the Boxer from the UK that it had sacrificed in 2003.

Yet before a production contract had been signed, the British Army ditched the Strike Brigades in the Future Soldier 25 concept published in November 2021. Instead, 3rd UK Division will hold five mechanised infantry battalions mounted on MIVs, three in the 20th Armoured Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) and two in the 12th ABCT. With the Boxer’s core role of providing protected mobility for mechanised infantry unchanged, this reorganisation is unlikely to threaten Boxer or raise questions about its utility.

An (inter)national success story?

Acting on behalf of the UK government, since November 2019 OCCAR has awarded two production contracts to ARTEC, a consortium owned by the German companies Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), itself now part of the Franco-German KMW + Nexter Defense Systems (KNDS); Rheinmetall Military Vehicles; and Rheinmetall Defence Nederland B.V., a Dutch subsidiary of Rheinmetall. Four main variants of the Boxer have been ordered: Infantry Carrying Vehicles (ICVs), Specialist Carrier Vehicles (SCVs), Command Posts (CPs), and Ambulances.

One element of the Boxer MIV programme that was emphasised in the initial announcement of its selection in March 2018 was that 60% of the manufacturing work and eventually 100% of final assembly was forecast to be carried out by UK industry.

In a sense, the programme looks able to deliver on these promises. Just over a year after the first production contract was signed, ARTEC confirmed that it would award subcontracts to the UK-based Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) and WFEL (now KNDS UK) to carry out Boxer manufacturing and assembly, integration, and test (AIT) work at their respective facilities in Telford and Stockport, with KNDS UK also tasked with manufacturing 480 drive modules for the first batch of 523 vehicles.

Other UK-based companies are also slated to receive work for Boxer MIV production, including Rolls-Royce, Thales UK, William Cook Engineering, Parker-Hannifin, Mildef, Oxley Group, and Pearson Engineering. Furthermore, Elbit Systems UK was awarded a contract on 9 May 2023 to deliver crew trainers for the Boxer platform as part of the Project Vulcan initiative.

Yet it is important not to forget that both of the main UK subcontractors are now owned by German parent companies, with Rheinmetall commanding a 51% stake in RBSL and KNDS’ German branch owning KNDS UK. Moreover, friction created by supply chain issues and a desire to keep the programme on schedule means that most of the second order from April 2022 will be manufactured in Germany, increasing the German workshare from 7% of the initial order to 19% of the total order for 623.

On the positive side however, the Boxer has so far stood out for largely adhering to the schedule outlined at the time of its selection, despite coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic, which increased procurement times for many electronic components. Production of sub-assemblies had kicked off at KNDS UK by May 2021, while RBSL officially opened its Telford assembly line on 27 March 2023. As expected, the first prototype vehicles were delivered from the German production line to the British Army for trials with the Royal Fusiliers by December 2023. If this continues, the British Army should receive the first production-standard Boxers in the fourth quarter of 2024, leading to initial operational capability (IOC) being achieved in Q4 2025 and keeping the MIV programme on track to reach full operational capability (FOC) in 2032.

Once UK Boxer production enters full swing, the UK government could also seek to capitalise on latent capacity within the production lines by pursuing export opportunities. One such opportunity may present itself in Qatar, where the British Army displayed a Boxer painted in UK and Qatari flags during the March 2024 DIMDEX exhibition, all but confirming that it will be pitched for the Qatari 8×8 AFV procurement programme.

The British Boxer

While much has been disclosed about the status of the UK Boxer programme, comparatively less is known about what the Boxer that is delivered to the British Army will look like. What is clear is that the British Army will be the first operator of the full-spec Boxer A3 drive module. The A3 will be fitted with a more powerful 600 kW (804.6 hp) MTU 8V199 TE21 diesel engine and will have an uprated suspension, modified braking system, and reinforced wheel hubs, allowing it to accommodate a higher gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 38.5 tonnes, although demonstrations have shown that this could grow to 41 tonnes. UK Boxers will also have six instead of four attachment points for mission modules, an uprated central tyre inflation system (CTIS) with a more powerful compressor, reinforced towing eyes, compatibility with an enhanced version of the British Army’s Generic Vehicle Architecture (GVA), cameras for the Rheinmetall Trailblazer local situational awareness system, and provision to be fitted with the obligatory boiling vessel (BV).

Four basic mission module variants will be delivered for the MIV programme, with the Ambulance variant having a higher roof. These will be equipped with a Thales UK licence-produced Kongsberg Protector RS4 remote weapon station (RWS) armed with either a 7.62 mm L7A2 or 12.7 mm L1A2 machine gun. Thales UK’s Acusonic acoustic shot detection system that has been seen on the Ajax family will also be available as an option for integration into the Boxer MIV. Each variant will have a crew of three comprising a driver, commander, and gunner, with further capacity for eight passengers in the ICV, four in the SCV, five in the CP, and either seven wounded and two stretcher patients, or three walking wounded and three stretcher patients in the Ambulances.

However, there are also planned to be several subvariants of the SCV and CP variants created by fitting them with role-specific mission kits once they have left the production line. A breakdown provided by the MoD in response to a parliamentary question on 9 June 2021 indicates that those ordered in the first batch will be configured as follows:

No further information has been provided on what differentiates each of these subvariants, nor has a breakdown been provided for the second batch of 100 Boxer MIVs ordered in April 2022. It is also possible that the projected breakdown may have changed since this response was published.

A Boxer for every occasion

The number of Boxers and the variety of variants in service with the British Army is expected to proliferate in the near future. At the International Armoured Vehicles (IAV) Conference held in January 2024, it was revealed that the British Army intends to order a third batch of at least 100 more Boxers. This new batch would comprise several new combat and combat support variants, which are believed to be part of a broader Boxer Strategic Pipeline (BSP).

The third batch is planned to include a Boxer Repair and Recovery Vehicle (RRV), a Boxer Armoured Mortar (this will differ from the SCV Mortar Carrying Vehicle in that its mortar will be operated mounted rather than dismounted), and a Boxer Vehicle Layer Bridge Close Support Bridging (BVLB CSB). IOC dates of 2029 are projected for the RRV and BVLB CSB, and 2030 for the Armoured Mortar Vehicle. For the RRV, the British Army looks likely to procure FFG’s Armoured Recovery Module (ARM), while the decision to award KNDS UK the contract for General Support Bridges under Project TYRO indicates that the Boxer Bridge-Layer module shown by KNDS UK in September 2021 could be a frontrunner for that variant. In terms of the Armoured Mortar Vehicle, RBSL announced in September 2022 that it had test-fired a mortar module containing the Rheinmetall Norway Mortar Weapon System (MWS) with a 120 mm barrel at the Salisbury Plain. However, other solutions are available, including the turreted 120 mm New Mortar (NeMO) from Patria and the Crossbow from Elbit Systems.

Other variants that have been alluded to in the BSP are a carrier for the Serpens weapons-locating radar (IOC 2031), a Counter-Small Aerial Targets variant (IOC 2032), a Mounted Close Combat Overwatch armed with beyond-line-of-sight ATGMs (IOC 2032), and an electronic warfare (EW) variant. For some of these variants, it is debatable whether the Boxer is the optimum platform for the capability they provide. While mounting a valuable asset such as a radar on the Boxer may improve their survivability by making it more complicated for the enemy to identify the specific vehicle carrying the radar, this must be balanced against the cost of using an expensive AFV for a role that could be performed by a less-protected truck or a smaller AFV.

Finally, the Boxer-based Remote Controlled Howitzer 155 (RCH 155) was selected for the army’s Mobile Fires Platform (MFP) on 24 April 2024. Once again, to the consternation of other suppliers, the Boxer was chosen without a competition. In another familiar turn, the development of the RCH 155 will be carried out in collaboration with German industry and is planned to enter service before 2030. The UK MoD has not confirmed how many RCH 155s it intends to buy, but previous reporting on the MFP programme implied a requirement for 96 to replace the AS90 tracked 155 mm self-propelled howitzer.

With all of these Boxer variants expected to have a service life of at least 30 years by the UK MoD, and given the scheduled FOC for MIV and IOC dates for many other variants, the Boxer should remain in British Army service until well into the 2060s. In order to maintain their capability, it is likely that they will undergo continuous spiral development and at least one major mid-life upgrade. Few indications have been provided as to what this could involve, although one avenue that the British Army is understood to be considering is the integration of front-end equipment (FEE) onto the MIV fleet. Pearson Engineering has published conceptual images of an FEE interface mounted on a Boxer that could be used to carry combat engineering equipment such as the company’s Vector mine plough. OCCAR has also hinted at the possibility of Boxer users coming together to develop a common drive module standard that could incorporate features such as a hybrid-electric drivetrain and artificial intelligence-enabled capabilities.

The elephant in the room

One variant that is conspicuously absent from the British Army’s plans is an infantry fighting vehicle (IFV). With the cancellation of the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme (WSCP) and no plans in place to induct an IFV variant of the Ajax, British mechanised infantry appear to be severely outgunned in comparison to their NATO peers. In response to this gap in capability, some British companies involved in the MIV programme appear to have sought to entice the British Army to buy a turreted IFV version of the Boxer.

In July 2021, KNDS UK displayed a Boxer prototype equipped with a Kongsberg RT60 unmanned turret to officials from the British Army and UK MoD. KNDS subsequently developed this version into the Boxer Dragoon, which consisted of an MIV ICV mission module equipped with a lighter version of the RT60. Similarly, Pearson Engineering announced on 13 September 2023 at the DSEI exhibition that it was to play a role in delivering the Samson 30 mm unmanned turret from its parent company Rafael, signalling that could produce the system in the UK for the Boxer programme.

Despite these options, the British Army has given no indication that it is interested in pursuing a Boxer IFV. This may be due to concerns regarding the survivability of the Boxer in a more direct combat role. Indeed, British Army representatives have previously pushed back on the idea that Boxer is outgunned by suggesting that it is ultimately more dangerous to fit a platform with weapon systems that encourage the crew to engage targets that are more heavily armed and armoured. In the same vein, the British Army has pointed to the successful employment of infantry anti-tank weapons such as the Javelin ATGM in ‘hit-and-run’ engagements in Ukraine as evidence that a dismounted anti-tank capability may be preferable. Wheeled IFVs also face greater limitations on their cross-country mobility than tracked vehicles, limiting their tactical flexibility. While KNDS has proposed a tracked Boxer drive module, which was shown at Eurosatory 2024 fitted with the company’s Remote Control Turret 30 (RCT30), there are as yet no indications that this is under consideration by the British Army.

A glass half-full?

On the one hand, the Boxer programme could be considered a rare success in the UK’s recent AFV procurement. The programme looks poised to deliver on schedule and has helped to resuscitate the UK’s declining AFV industry. Looking to the future, the British Army could come to operate the largest and most diverse Boxer fleet in any one military, making Britain well-placed to contribute to its further development and involve its industry in any export opportunities.

Yet it also cannot be forgotten that the British Army could have already been operating the Boxer for more than a decade had it not withdrawn from the MRAV programme in 2003. Worse still, the very success of UK industry in embedding itself into the programme also highlights its decline and dependence on overseas capital and expertise.

There is also the danger that the Boxer’s success has encouraged the British Army to adopt it for roles to which it is not well suited, potentially putting some of the acquisition planned in the Boxer BSP at risk if financial pressures start to bite. At the same time though, the army’s reticence towards adopting a Boxer IFV could indicate that it is realistic about the platform’s limitations and recognises where it must be complemented by other platforms. Only time will tell, but one thing appears almost certain: the Boxer will be a major part of the British Army of the 2030s.

Jim Backhouse