RBSL displayed the Boxer Overwatch concept as part of its celebrations to mark the start of Boxer MIV production at Telford. As well as manufacturing mission modules for the British Army's Boxers, the company also has ambitions to design and market its own mission modules. (Janes/Sonny Butterworth)
Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) inaugurated its production line for the British Army's Boxer Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) on 27 March 2023, marking the first time that a new armoured vehicle had entered production at the company's Telford site since production of the Warrior started in 1986.
RBSL has been contracted to manufacture 272 Boxers in the Specialist Carrier Vehicle (SCV) and Command Post configurations. This includes 262 Boxers from the contract for 523 vehicles awarded by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) in November 2020, and 10 vehicles from the second contract for 100 Boxers announced in April 2022.
Work undertaken at the site will include fabricating the SCV and Command Post mission modules and then conducting assembly, integration, and test (AIT) work. The latter will include installing key subsystems such as the powerpacks into drive modules supplied by the WFEL facility in Stockport and then mounting the mission modules onto them to create complete vehicles.
Due to the relatively small production volumes involved (by commercial standards), most of the work will be conducted by hand, although automation of certain aspects of the welding processes that involve a high level of precision is being considered.
After testing, the completed Boxers will be supplied to the end-user, who will be responsible for integrating the kits necessary to configure the Boxers for their specific role, such as Engineer Section Vehicle (ESV) or Observation Post Vehicle (OPV).
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