25 May 2021
The new Boxer Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV) is part of the Boxer Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle family and is being put to the test in the largest exercise they have operated in since being delivered to the Army.
The vehicles are being used in the 7th Brigade-led Exercise Diamond Walk at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland.
Trooper Harrison Dietrich, a remote weapon station operator on the Boxer MPV, said the crews had adapted well to the new capability.
“We have just conducted dry and live-fire training with the hatches down, which has been a first for the troop,” Trooper Dietrich said.
“It was a case of walking through the complexities of a hatch-down environment. It’s also been about adapting and trying to work out the best way to employ the Boxer MPV.”
Lieutenant Riley Brassil previously worked with the vehicle the Boxer is replacing, the Australian Light Armoured Vehicle.
"The crews have shown great initiative and technical mastery in the way they have adapted to the new vehicle platform, which is unlike anything they have worked with before.
“In a vehicle that has so many sensors and digital systems, you find that you have so much more to work with and your mind is stretched between a few different lines of effort,” Lieutenant Brassil said.
“However, if you can pull that all together and work with the crew as a whole, the Boxer MPV is extremely effective at doing its job.”
Officer Commanding A Squadron 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment (Queensland Mounted Infantry) [2/14LHR (QMI)] Major Daniel Solomon said the crews enjoyed taking the Boxer MPV into the field after extensive theory-based training in the barracks.
“This is our first opportunity for this training year to take the Boxer MPV into the field as part of its introduction into use in the Army,” Major Solomon said.
“Exercise Diamond Walk has been an opportunity for us to go back to the basics, and the couple of weeks we have been out here has seen us achieve dry and live-fire individual crew certification, and up to troop certification live-fire.”
Major Solomon said the Boxer MPV had already demonstrated its superiority in the short amount of time 2/14LHR (QMI) had worked with it.
“So far, people have been quite impressed by the performance of the Boxers,” he said.
“We have constantly pushed the boundaries of the Boxer MPV, trying to push it further and further, and so far it’s responding very well.”
Exercise Diamond Walk runs until June 11.
Note: Land 400 Phase 2 is delivering the Boxer Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle (CRV) across two discrete blocks. Block I is providing a short run of 25 CRVs ‘originally tendered’ (12 Recon and 13 Multi-Purpose Vehicles [MPV]), achieving an initial operational capability by June 2022. Block II will provide a total of 186 ‘Australian specification’ vehicles to enable final operational capability in June 2027.
