WFEL has commenced production of Boxer Mechanised Infantry Vehicles for the British Army at its new manufacturing plant in the North West of England. It is a number of years since any new armoured vehicles have been manufactured in the UK.
The fabrication of vehicle sub-assemblies has been taking place over the last few weeks at WFEL’s new production facility at Stockport. As part of the extensive Technology Transfer Programme between KMW and WFEL, UK welding personnel have undertaken secondments of up to a year at parent company KMW’s Boxer manufacturing site in Hamburg, Germany.
Here, staff worked on the production of Boxer vehicles for KMW’s existing customers and are now fully qualified to undertake the complex work required to produce fabricated drive module hulls for the UK Boxer variants.
Jeremy Quin, Minister for Defence Procurement, said: “Today marks a significant milestone for the Boxer programme, as these modernised modular vehicles become one step closer to being delivered to the British Army.
“Supporting 120 jobs in Stockport, vital knowledge and industry expertise will be central to building armoured hulls and assembling the finished Boxer vehicles required for future Army capabilities.”
High levels of UK contentWFEL has been selected as the KMW UK footprint for the Boxer MIV Programme and will employ high levels of UK content, creating and protecting sovereign engineering and manufacturing skills, ensuring that the vehicles remain supported through their operational life.
As well as manufacturing the armoured hulls for the British Army's new vehicles, WFEL will be responsible for the assembly, integration and testing (AIT) of a total of 225 Boxer MIV vehicles under the £2.3 billion contract signed between UK MoD and ARTEC in November 2019.
WFEL has recently announced a number of sub-contract awards as part of the supply chain roll out programme for its Boxer programme, including agreements with Horstman, David Brown Santasalo and BCW Engineering.
WFEL continues its recruitment campaign for the Boxer programme, offering long-term employment opportunities in a variety of roles across the new manufacturing site in Stockport.
On 25 May, UK Defence Minister, Jeremy Quin, officially opened WFEL's new Boxer vehicle production facility. He said: “Our Boxer programme is playing a significant role in boosting prosperity, supporting skills, protecting over 1,000 jobs across the North West, North East, West Midlands, central Scotland, Wales and throughout the UK wider supply chain.”