Work has begun on the first locally made Boxer Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles (CRVs) at Rheinmetall Defence Australia’s Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence (MILVEHCOE) in Ipswich.
Backed by the Queensland government, Rheinmetall secured the $5.2 billion LAND 400 Phase 2 project to deliver 211 Boxer CRVs to the Australian Defence Force.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Deputy Premier Steven Miles and Member for Bundamba Lance McCallum visited the advanced military vehicle manufacturing facility to mark the production’s commencement.
The Australian Army in mid-October 2022 announced that the first 25 Boxer CRVs, which have been partially manufactured in Germany, had achieved Initial Operating Capability after extensive testing and live exercises.
Full-scale local production of the Boxer CRV at the MILVEHCOE begins following the transfer of technology and skills to Rheinmetall’s Australian workforce.
“Through the delivery of LAND 400 Phase 2 and its other projects, our partnership has already created 600 jobs at the Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence, which will be contributing more than $1 billion to the Queensland’s economy in its first 10 years of operation,” Premier Palaszczuk said.
“We expect that hundreds of additional jobs will be created should Rheinmetall be successful for Phase 3. These are the highly skilled, knowledge-based jobs of the future that the government has been working hard to bring to Queensland,” the premier added.
Australia and Germany recently unveiled talks to manufacture and export Queensland-made Boxer CRVs for the German Army.
The potential export opportunity is expected to result in increased employment and a longer production line for Boxer CRVs at MILVEHCOE.
“The delivery of LAND 400 Phase 2 and Rheinmetall’s other projects firmly positions Queensland as Australia’s home of land defence industrial capability and enhances our existing ecosystem of high-tech expertise that is supporting some of the world’s leading-edge military platforms,” said Deputy Premier Steven Miles.
“The Queensland Government, through Defence Jobs Queensland, is working closely with Rheinmetall and Queensland companies to improve industry capability and to maximise local supply chain opportunities,” Miles added.
