IAV 2025: Germany and Netherlands plan procurement of more Boxer armoured vehicles

The first Boxer produced in the UK in December 2023 was displayed at IAV 2025. (Janes/Christopher Petrov)

Germany and the Netherlands are planning to jointly procure more Boxer armoured vehicles, Janes learnt at Defence iQ's International Armoured Vehicles (IAV) 2025 conference held under the Chatham House Rule in Farnborough from 21 to 23 January. The order for 150 Boxer infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) versions for Germany and 72 for the Netherlands has been delayed by the German national elections, to be held on 23 February, to the second or third quarter of 2025.

Joint procurement of the 222 Boxer IFVs is expected to result in economies of scale. Germany has so far ordered 551 Boxers, and delivery of 200 of the vehicles to the Netherlands was completed in 2014.

The Royal Netherlands Army deployed Boxers configured as IFVs to Lithuania starting in mid-2017. The vehicles were modified engineer variants, which are armed with the Kongsberg M151 Protector 12.7 mm machine gun, however there is a formal Dutch requirement to up-arm them with an automatic cannon of at least 30 mm in calibre.

The Dutch-German Boxer IFV will have minimum modifications, but separately, the two countries also plan to procure the Boxer Knifefish jamming variant in two versions: ultra-high frequency (UHF)/very high frequency (VHF) and high frequency (HF).

The UK is another country that plans to increase the size of its Boxer fleet. The first Boxer produced in the UK in December 2023 was displayed at IAV 2025.

For more information on Boxer, please seeBoxing clever: Modularity gives Boxer armoured vehicle wide range of missions .