Page 37 - Australian Defence Magazine September 2019

Behind the Boxer
industrialisation plan
JULIAN KERR | SYDNEY
Although production in Australia of Boxer 8x8 combat reconnaissance vehicles (CRVs) will not get underway until 2022, substantial progress has already been made in ramping up the complex industrialisation process for Land 400 Phase 2.
OF the 211 CRVs being acquired from Rhe- inmetall Defence under Project Land 400 Phase 2 at a cost of $5.2 billion, the first 25 are being delivered from Europe while the remaining 186 will be manufactured at the company’s $170 million Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence (MILVEHCOE), cur- rently under construction at Ipswich south- west of Brisbane.
MILVEHCOE will be Rheinmetall De- fence’s largest facility outside Germany, and represents the largest financial infrastruc- ture investment to be made by the company in its 130-year history.
On full completion in late 2020, the MILVEHCOE will provide the capabil- ity for fully-owned subsidiary Rheinmetall Defence Australia (RDA) to manufacture, sustain and upgrade not only current and future Rheinmetall vehicles in service with the ADF, but potentially also those oper- ated by militaries across the region.
As detailed by RDA, the facility will ac- commodate the design and manufacture of vehicles, turrets, armour, electro-optics, electronics, simulation and other advanced systems.
www.australiandefence.com.au | September 2019 | 37
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