Also badas$ Boxer remote controlled turret.
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I hope we get a few of those to complement our limited number of infantry fighting vehicles.Link
A concept study of the highly mobile wheeled Boxer vehicle equipped with a prototype of the medium caliber turret system LANCE had already been presented to a wide audience at the Eurosatory 2010. Development of this concept study has now been successfully advanced and built up to full functionality.
In close cooperation between RMMV Kassel, RLS Augsburg and RLS Kiel, a series LANCE turret system and a series Boxer module as well as a modified series mission module have been combined to one system and tested at the Rheinmetall Defence test center in Unterl��. Realisation of the study has thus been verified.
Boxer driving over a tank bridge at Unterl�� (left) and Boxer in the terrain with stabilised weapon system (right)
Both in the driving dynamic presentation and shooting demonstration in front of a high-profile delegation, Boxer and LANCE provided convincing evidence of their efficiency. The conclusion drawn from the impressive presentation: the combination of highly protected, highly mobile and mission-proven vehicle platform with the most modern medium caliber turret in the world was able to convince at all levels.
The armoured transport vehicle Boxer is being produced within the framework of a bi-national program. Boxer is a highly mobile, state-of-the-art wheeled vehicle whose modular design permits a wide variety of mission-specific configurations. Consisting of a uniform drive module, the Boxer vehicle family's user-specific mission modules can be quickly exchanged. A number of mission variants have been developed, including a troop carrier for transporting an infantry section, a field ambulance, a combat engineering section vehicle, C4I and C2 command vehicles, a logistics vehicle and a battlefield maintenance vehicle.
Live firing at the proving ground in Unterl��
Also badas$ Boxer remote controlled turret.
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This thing looks somehow weird. But having bigger cannon isnt a bad thing, just not sure if BW will buy them in near future.
Btw. how much does this turret weight? Boxer is already heaviest vehicle of its class.
Last edited by Nyusu; 05-17-2012 at 11:53 AM.
Wow, does it still fit in any transport plane or under any bridge? Does it fit trough railway tunnels when transported?![]()
All BW vehicles were usually intended as a family.
There was a Marder Mortar carrier that was not taken up, and Fuchs 20mm version plus a mortar carrier as well.
I guess there's some divine law against APCs having greater or equal firepower than IFVs.
Not to mention that firepower is not liked by the Heer anyway, it seems.
We will probably see this next month at Eurosatory
The only decent firepower non-tracked units have is the M2. If there's no tank or IFV at hand no real autocannon is available. I never understood why it's not possible to put some, comparably cheap, autocanons on lighter vehicles. The 105mm would also seem a good addition. But I suspect that the Heer still follows the cold war doctrine where these kind of vehicles are supposed not to meet siginificant resistance. Poor soldiers sent to international missions where every ragtag guerilla has autocannons.
Those where still the days:
The biggest fun in object defense
Isn't the Boxer modular? In that case they could just order some LANCE modules which can be used with already existing vehicles if needed - they would not even need new vehicles in that case.
The modularity might only apply to the various modules that can be placed on the 'bed' in the back. How useful said modularity really is, I dunno. The landmacht is purchasing its (first) batch in distinct variants, which seems to preclude buying 'empty' vehicles and seperate modules to swap out at will.
The modularity sound good on paper. You can change modules depending on your needs.
But this is only good if you have a limited number of vehicles and a lot of modules (because you don't want to hire to many people, but still want to keep your choices). That is not the case since you want a bit of everything (at the same time) in a brigade... otherwise your organization has serious problems. And you will not need to convert all your troop carriers in ambulances or mortar platforms. Even for Afghanistan type missions, being able to change between modules at company level is not that useful (you sacrifice a patrol vehicle to gain an ambulance). And I did not even took into account that each module needed to be carried by another vehicle (more logistics problems). That leaves maintenance, but for that, a commune engine, transmission, suspension is sufficient.
Getting rid of modularity to make the vehicles cheaper and buying more of them in dedicated roles would be better for an operational army (my 2 cents!). The BOXER looks like a great vehicle, but it has a useless party trick (I guess the future will tell if that is the case or I am wrong).
The Dutch army is not intending it's boxers for active front line service anyway(they're all utility vehicles: command, ambulance, engineering and logistics AFAIK) That is what the CV90 is meant for. I can't really see us using the module swapping feature, don't know how the Heer feels about it.