Minister for Defence Procurement Jeremy Quin has formally opened a new manufacturing plant in the North West of England which will play a significant role in building the British Army’s latest armoured vehicle – the Boxer.
During his visit to WFEL in Stockport, Mr Quin saw first-hand the newly built facility which will fabricate all the armoured hulls and assemble the finished Boxer vehicles for delivery to MoD.
Speaking at the event Mr Quin said:
“Our Boxer programme is playing a significant role in boosting prosperity, supporting skills; protecting over 1,000 jobs across the North East, West Midlands, central Scotland, Wales, and throughout the UK wider supply chain. This new production line is creating 120 new jobs at WFEL, further cementing our investment in UK innovation and expertise.”
The UK decided to re-join the Boxer programme in 2018 and since then has committed £2.8bn to deliver over 500 vehicles to the British Army.
The very first delivery of machined component parts for the Boxer Mechanised Infantry Vehicles to WFEL’s Stockport manufacturing facility happened last week, you can read more about this here.
Boxer will be made up of four variants: an Infantry Carrier; a Specialist Carrier; a Command Vehicle; and an Ambulance.
While the initial contract was awarded to ARTEC, a joint venture between KMW and another German company Rheinmetall, much of the work will be carried out by WFEL in Stockport and RBSL in Telford.
This is the facility that Rheinmetall built here in Australia for the manufacture of the Boxer CRV fleet:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DKIBqLdj9b4
It’s also used for assembly of the Army’s new heavy truck fleet, and will also be used for manufacture of the Lynx KF41 if it wins the IFV competition against the South Korean Redback AS21.
Cheers,
Nice to hear from elsewhere in the”Empire” John. I was feeling kinda lonely down here south of the Equator😉 Regards from Durban
Hi Geoff, how are you mate?
As for the ‘Empire’, the sun set on that many decades ago, and who could forget when the ‘Mother country’ kicked us in the guts when it joined the Common Market/EU, but the worm turns, now the UK has left the EU and is now looking for ‘friends’, funny that?
A lot of South Africans here in Oz, a lot not far from me here in Northern Sydney in a suburb called ‘St Ives’ or as it is known locally, ‘St Africa’. A lot in Perth WA too.
Cheers,
just out of curiosity are the ausie plp wanting to start CANZUK. if u don’t what that is search up CANZUK alliance. cuz that kinda would be the like the 3rd British empire? i guess?
Hi mate, yes I’m aware of the CANZUK proposal, what do Aussies think about it? I don’t think it’s something that’s front of mind here, not a lot of media coverage, probably more important issues on peoples minds.
We’ve already got Five Eyes, various bilateral and multi-lateral treaties and relationships. Will a formal CANZUK alliance change anything? Maybe, maybe not.
Closer relationships with friends is always a good thing, but do we need CANZUK? Don’t know.
Cheers,
Hi John-yes, have lots of friends in Sydney and Perth-Swingewood,Van der Wagen,Stuart,Blue plus across the water in NZ. Got to keep on subject otherwise we will get in trouble with George!😁
Cheers Mate
Hi mate, nah, we won’t get in trouble.
All my ancestors arrived here in Oz between 1830 and 1850, in order of arrival: Scottish, Irish, English and a few from Wales, mostly free settlers, but also a few Irish convicts, that makes me Aussie royalty!
With that blood in me I can make as many ‘Pommy/Irish/Scottish/Welsh’ jokes I want and not be considered a racist!
As for NZ, we don’t say ‘across the water’, we say ‘across the ditch’.
Cheers,
I have the same mix of the Four Nations. My Bank Manager who looks white as driven snow found out he has some black blood in his veins! A definite advantage in the new SA. Cheers for now.
Certainly agree turning our back on the commonwealth for the common market at the time was a rather idiotic decision as the latter was a much smaller market than the one we already had. But previous political parties cant be held account as are the joys of politics.
Yes time moves on, but I do know some older Aussies and Kiwis who still think the UK is a ‘bunch of bastards’ for what happened.
In our part of the world we’ll always have very strong links in many ways to the UK, but equally we don’t rely on the UK anymore either.
Cheers,
As it should be, certainly not reliant and haven’t been for many years. Strong commonwealth family links and trading, plus probably increasingly strong defence ties as China continues to flex it’s muscles.
I always think of Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians as extended family I must admit.
My Grandfather fought with the Canadian 28th infantry Division in WW1, getting gassed and going through some of the heaviest fighting in that terrible war.
My uncle did a tour with 460 Squadron RAAF (the highest tonnage of bombs dropped and the heaviest losses in Bomber command), flying Lancaster’s in in WW2.
Commonwealth history and service runs through my family and I’m hugely proud of this.
Yes there are strong family links, at times a disfunctional family too.
My Father’s Father fought in the Boer War, my Mother’s Father was an original Anzac at Gallipoli, wounded and survived, my Father and Uncles fought against the Japanese in WW II.
And yes, well aware of 460 Squadron RAAF, very famous indeed.
One of their Lancasters, the famous G for George, is in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_for_George
Cheers,
“equally we don’t rely on the UK anymore either”
Neither do the EU. Funny that.
Many British people were deeply unhappy about turning our backs on our Antipodean cousins John.
Very happy indeed to be reconnecting with our southern hemisphere brother and sisters👍
Hi John, it will be interesting to see how much effort the UK puts into reconnecting with our part of the world, the broader Indo-Pacific and Asia-Pacific regions.
If the UK wants deeper Defence and Economic ties it will have to commit to a strong and persistent presence too.
Cheers,
I was trying to figure out how big a cut replacing warrior/CVR(t) for Ajax/boxer would be, purely from a numbers perspective, and it seems like a pretty significant one, even before considering capability of the platforms.
As far as I can tell from a variety of sources, Ajax should replace in service CVRT on a one for one basis. Boxer is now to be the replacement for Warrior, roughly one for one for the numbers originally planned for upgrade.
There doesn’t seem to be anything to replace the several hundred FV430 still in service.
Whether Warrior hulls could live on as APC replacements for FV 430, I’m not sure. But if the basic vehicles were sound enough for the now cancelled upgrade, they might be a low cost, low risk option.
The much better funded US army is still using Vietnam era M113s.
Boxer is replacing mechanised infantry that currently use MRAPs.
I think a lot of cvrts have been retired across the board so hard to compare what ajax is replacing 1 for 1 of. We used to have thousands of cvrts. Same for warrior how many are actually available? I think the plan was to upgrade 250, but for the money we have already pi$$Ed away plus production contract pretty sure we could have just purchased 250 Ajax in more of an ascod 2 ifv varient with 8 crew. Still confuses me that ascod 2 can carry twice the number of dismounts. I know ajax is packed pull of sensors but why are the so bulky.
As you say we once had 1000 s of CVRT . The still active total I gave came from a couple of sources. The Warrior upgrade plan was for 380 with 245 getting CTA.
Not sure of the plan for MRAP, but Boxer is to replace Warrior in the armoured infantry regiments. There is talk of fitting the CTA turret. Without some cannon mounting Boxer is just a big APC.
I never understood why Ajax was designed to carry so few dismounts either.
The mod has already ordered 250 cta canons before placing a production order for the Warrior upgrade (you couldn’t make it up) so I think they will find their way onto boxer some way. I’m not sure if the canon is just the components manufactured by cta or the whole LM turret.
Hate to disappoint but I heard since they struggled to fit 40mm gun to warrior they don’t think will fit boxer with out total redesign
The CTAi cannon is GFE and integrated into a modified Lynx turret by LM.
This is the bit I am confused on. I k ow the CTA components have been purchased for 250 Canon. But has LM already been paid to integrate the turrets. If so I don’t see any other option other than to build boxer modules for them
LM had no contract with the MOD yet, it was canned before being signed.
Is that turret aka Lance?
Hi BB85, there are a few reasons why the ARES only carries 4 dismounts. One is the extensive electronics on all of the platforms, giving them fully networked capability. The other main reason is a UK Gvt requirement for survivability. Space inside is taken up with blast mitigating seats (not the “tin” ones found in Spanish ASCODS), spall liners, a huge amount of CES and personal kit. To accommodate the extra 4 bods, I think they’d have to extend the hull and add a set of road wheels.
As I recall the reason the army kept on a lot of FV430s alongside Warrior was that the Warrior family was not comprehensive due to cutbacks ie no Mortar or Amb variant etc etc of WR was fielded, hence 430 covered such roles.
When Boxer replaces WR, then Boxer Mortar, Boxer Amb etc etc variants must be created and fielded to allow 430 to be withdrawn.