Germany and Netherlands raise Schakal order to 291 fighting vehicles

Rheinmetall has booked an order worth a medium three-digit million-euro sum for its share of 69 more Schakal wheeled infantry fighting vehicles for Germany and the Netherlands, the company announced, after the European procurement agency OCCAR exercised the first option under the program's 2025 contract. OCCAR placed the order with ARTEC, the Rheinmetall and KNDS Deutschland joint venture that builds the Boxer, for 35 vehicles for the Bundeswehr and 34 for the Royal Netherlands Army. Germany's Bundestag budget committee approved the call-off on June 24, and the two countries announced the extra 69 vehicles in August, when Germany's planned Schakal fleet grew to about 185 vehicles and the Dutch fleet to 106. Rheinmetall has now disclosed the value of its part of the work, without giving a precise figure, and said the vehicles are scheduled for delivery between May 2032 and November 2033. "The activation of additional options for the Schakal confirms our customers' confidence in this state-of-the-art system," said Dr. Björn Bernhard, head of Rheinmetall's Vehicle Systems Division. The option call-off raises the total number of Schakals on order to 291. The main contract, signed at OCCAR's headquarters in Bonn in October 2025, covered 222 vehicles, 150 for Germany and 72 for the Netherlands, with an order value of €4.7 billion (about $5.24 billion), of which Rheinmetall's share was almost €3.4 billion (about $3.79 billion). Rheinmetall said that contract includes an option for up to 200 additional vehicles, so Germany and the Netherlands can still order more. The Schakal, also known as the Boxer RCT30, mounts the unmanned turret of the tracked Puma infantry fighting vehicle on the Boxer's eight-wheeled armored chassis. The turret carries Rheinmetall's 30 mm MK 30-2/ABM automatic cannon, which can fire programmable airburst rounds that explode near a target, along with a launcher for MELLS anti-tank guided missiles, the German designation for the Spike LR. The vehicle carries a three-person crew and can transport up to six dismounted soldiers, so it can move an infantry squad and support it with fire once troops dismount. Germany is buying the Schakal as the main vehicle for the infantry of its new "medium forces," brigades built around wheeled vehicles that can cover long distances quickly on roads, a role between heavy tank and tracked infantry fighting vehicle units and light infantry. Because it shares its chassis with the Boxers already in German and Dutch service, the two armies can use common training, spare parts and maintenance. Germany originally planned the purchase in its 2025 draft budget, and the Schakal will be the first Bundeswehr Boxer built on the newer Future Common Drive Module. KNDS has said the first vehicles will be delivered starting in late 2027. Key components are made at German sites run by Rheinmetall, KNDS Deutschland, MTU, Hensoldt and smaller suppliers. Rheinmetall also said German industry has guaranteed significantly faster delivery of the option vehicles if the Bundeswehr goes ahead with Arminius, a large planned Boxer program.