The Boxer was displayed here at DSEI in its British colors, since Britain participated in its design before withdrawing from the program in 1999. Photo: Noam Eshel, Defense-Update.

Wheeled Armored Vehicles

MOD is also planning to field few hundreds Mechanized Infantry Vehicles (or MIVs) to transport the infantry units of the strike brigades. At this preliminary stage, MOD considers quite a few 8×8 foreign vehicle designs, from Switzerland, Germany, France, Finland, and Singapore. Some of these vehicles were on display here, mainly the Piranha, from GDLS Europe, the French VBCI and German Boxer were both on display at the stand of the new Franco-German industry KNDS.

The Boxer was also shown by Rheinmetall Defense, painted in the Union Jack colors to highlight its British origin. Back in 1999, the Boxer program started under German, French and British cooperation pursuing a highly modular armored personnel carrier, but in 2003 Britain withdrew from the program. The 8×8 MIV candidate vehicles were all shown with remotely operated weapon stations mounting machine guns or cannons and guided missiles, aiming at the most likely configurations the Brits require.

High mobility over all terrain is an important requirement that Britain is seeking for its combat vehicles as many countries fielding rapid reaction and special forces. New vehicles from several manufacturers displayed such capabilities with tracked and wheeled vehicles.

The Army plans to field a new family of wheeled vehicles known as ‘multi-role vehicle – protected’ (MRVP), to replace part of the current fleet of tactical vehicles. The MRVP procurement covers two distinct groups – the Oshkosh JLTV was selected for the common utility vehicle (MRV-P Category 1). As for the heavier ambulance, troop carriers and recovery vehicles – MOD still hasn’t decided, and a number of contenders, including 6×6 vehicles displayed by General Dynamics European Land Systems and Penman were here at DSEI to promote their vehicles.

Main Highlights:

A Boxer 8×8 vehicle displayed by KNDS shows the modular design of the vehicle, enabling field configuration of combat vehicles, using different mission modules. The module shown here comprises a fighting compartment and a Lance turret manned by a crew of two. Photo: Noam Eshel, Defense-Update