introduction

This book written by the well known author Ralf Zwilling covers the new Boxer multirole armored wheeled vehicle and its variants in service with the German Army in 72 pages and 153 color photographs. The text is provided in both German and English.

the book

As usual with the Tankograd series of books, this volume starts with a short historical background and then deals with the core of its subject, the four variants which are currently in service with the German army.

The introduction covers the long and difficult development mainly due to the different objectives of the initial partners, France and Great-Britain which finally withdrew of the project. Three pictures of various prototypes, one of a 6 wheeled one, illustrate this part of the book.
Then, the author focuses on the technical description of the Boxer putting the emphasis on the protection and the modularity. A specific part details the driving module. A picture shows this module without the rear module.
The introduction concludes with a walkaround of the power pack in and outside its compartment.

The next four chapters present each vehicle variant. Each one starts with a description of the vehicle in its two variants, the A0 and the A1 when existing.
The Boxer APC is covered by 18 pages for the A0 and 8 pages for the A1. As usual with Tankograd, the pictures are a mix of large and close-up pictures showing details like the FLW 200 (remote weapon station) armed with either a M2 MG or a 40mm grenade launcher. Some pictures of the troop compartment are provided as well as a number of pictures of vehicles currently deployed in Afghanistan for the A1 variant.

The next variant covered is the command vehicle with 5 pages for the A0 variant, shown in Germany and 7 pages for the A1 with a mix of pictures in Germany and in Afghanistan. Again, the interior of the rear compartment is presented in 8 pictures.

The third vehicle is the ambulance. The only variant covered is the A0 as the A1 has not been fielded at the time of writing. The 14 pages comprise a large amount of interior pictures.

The last chapter is dedicated to the driver training vehicle. The 7 pages cover not only the vehicle itself but the driving simulator which was simultaneously adopted by the German army.

The book concludes by two pictures of the prototypes displayed at Eurosatory 2010 which were armed with two different turrets each mounting a 30mm automatic-gun.