FAVS 2023: Germany and Netherlands plan Boxer jamming variant

FFG is working on the Boxer RRV variant. (FFG )

Lieutenant Colonel Karlheinz Boehnke, Multi-Role Armoured Vehicle (MRAV) Boxer representative in the German Army Concept and Capabilities Development Centre, presented a Boxer jamming variant and an update on other planned versions on the second day of SAE Media Group's Future Armoured Vehicles Survivability (FAVS) 2023 conference held in London from 13 to 15 November.

The Boxer Knifefish jamming variant would exist in two versions – ultra-high frequency (UHF)/very high frequency (VHF) and high frequency (HF). The systems requirement document and proposed solution are planned for November, to be followed by a draft development proposal in March 2024, and parliamentary approval a month later. Lt Col Boehnke expected at least one Boxer jamming prototype to be delivered by 2028.

He said Germany and the Netherlands would form a medium brigade, with Germany providing Boxer heavy weapon carriers (HWCs) and armoured infantry fighting vehicles (AIFVs) to that formation, in addition to two German brigades and the Franco-German Brigade.

Lt Col Boehnke also expected plans for a Boxer recovery vehicle launched in 2022 to be approved by the end of 2024. Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft (FFG) has been working on its proposed Boxer repair and recovery vehicle (RRV) variant, which was first presented in 2019.

Another planned Boxer variant Lt Col Boehnke presented was a mine clearing version, with the systems requirement document and proposed solution planned for November. Regarding the Boxer bridge laying variant, proposals for which have been presented by Krauss Maffei-Wegmann and Rheinmetall, Lt Col Boehnke expected a functional requirements document in January 2024. He raised the possibility of the bridge layer being based on a wheeled vehicle other than Boxer.