The Australian Army’s 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment has commenced its first training course on its new Rheinmetall Boxer 8×8 combat reconnaissance vehicles (CRV) at Enoggera and at the Wide Bay Training Area in Queensland.

Selected under Project LAND 400 Phase 2 to replace the GDLS ASLAV. The selection of Boxer was announced in March 2018, and a contract was signed in August 2018. The first Boxer was delivered in September 2019 and, so far, Army has so far received six of its planned 211 Boxer CRVs.

The first 18 vehicles are scheduled to be delivered from Rheinmetall’s Kassel facility in Germany, before production switches to the company’s new Military Vehicles Centre of Excellence (MILVECOE) near Ipswich in Queensland.

The Boxer provides much greater levels of protection for its crew and mounted troops, and greater lethality through its Lance remote weapons station (RWS). “These vehicles will provide our soldiers with increased protection, lethality, connectivity and mobility for the next 30 years,” Defence Minister Senator Linda Reynolds said in a statement.

The six vehicles delivered so far are all configured as reconnaissance variants with the Lance RWS which will comprise 133 of the 211 Boxers planned.