COLOGNE, Germany — Germany and the Netherlands are slated to get hundreds of newly developed Jackal wheeled infantry fighting vehicles under a multibillion-dollar deal, co-producer Rheinmetall announced on Monday.
The €3.4 billion ($4 billion) contract, handled by European defense-acquisition body OCCAR, will see 150 combat vehicles go to the German Bundeswehr and 72 to the Dutch forces.
Based on the Boxer wheeled chassis, known for its modular utility in a variety of defense applications, the Jackal, or Schakal in German, features the turret and 30mm main gun of the Puma, a tracked light tank for heavier forces.
The armed forces of neighbors Germany and the Netherlands routinely cooperate on weapons purchases and joint command of segments of their forces.
Rheinmetall said its portion of the Jackal deal amounts to almost €3 billion. The company is tied with KNDS Germany under the joint venture Artec for all things Boxer.
According to OCCAR, the latest Boxer variant brings the organization’s investment portfolio devoted to the vehicle to €10 billion.
Germany recently ordered battlefield ambulances based on the vehicle chassis. Additional developments in the pipeline include a bridge-laying version for river crossings as well as a howitzer using Germany’s Panzerhaubitze 2000.
Sebastian Sprenger is associate editor for Europe at Defense News, reporting on the state of the defense market in the region, and on U.S.-Europe cooperation and multi-national investments in defense and global security. Previously he served as managing editor for Defense News. He is based in Cologne, Germany.
source
