Rheinmetall Defence Australia presents first Boxer heavy weapon carrier for Germany
The German Army's first Boxer heaver weapon carrier seen during a demonstration in Australia on 27 March 2026. (Bundeswehr/Christoph Kassette)
Rheinmetall Defence Australia (RDA) presented the first completed heavy weapon carrier infantry (Schwerer Waffenträger Infanterie: sWaTrg Inf) Boxer vehicle for the German Army during a visit by German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius to Rheinmetall's Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence (MILVECOE) in Redbank, Queensland, on 27 March.
Pistorius and Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy were given a test drive in the vehicle.
Germany's Federal Ministry of Defence (BMVg) said on its website later the same day that the first vehicles would be delivered in 2026. Deliveries to Germany are planned through to 2030, according to the Australian Department of Defence (DoD).
The Australian government signed a production agreement with RDA on 10 April 2024 for more than 100 Boxer sWaTrg Inf vehicles to export to Germany, which RDA said is Australia's largest foreign military export to the country. The vehicles are being procured under a government-to-government letter of intent signed by Canberra and Berlin in March 2024.
Twenty of the vehicles are being produced in Rheinmetall's Kassel and Unterlüß plants in Germany.
The sWaTrg Inf will replace the Bundeswehr's Wiesel 1 tracked tactical direct fire support weapon carrier and equip the German Army's new medium forces.
It will be based on the Australian Army's Boxer Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle (CRV), which is equipped with a reconnaissance mission module including the two-person digital Lance turret, armed with Rheinmetall's MK30-2 airburst munition (ABM) automatic cannon. This is also the main armament of the German Army's Puma infantry fighting vehicle (IFV). The sWaTrg Inf vehicle will also be armed with the Multi-role-capable Light Missile System (Mehrrollenfähiges leichtes Lenkflugkörper-System: MELLS), the Bundeswehr designation for Spike LR.
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