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Rheinmetall supplies kits for Fuchs 2 armored personnel carriers

Gerhard Heiming

January 30, 2024

In a follow-up order, the defense company Rheinmetall is supplying an international partner with kits for the production of Fuchs 2 armored transport vehicles. As the company announced, the order with a volume in the three-digit million euro range also includes conversion kits and the delivery of spare parts packages. Deliveries are scheduled to take place between 2024 and 2028.

The manufacturing facility in the partner country has recorded an increase in value added in recent years as well as investments to ensure machining, welding and surface treatment steps, writes Rheinmetall. The strategic and long-standing partnership is entering a new, promising phase, which also includes the possibility of future export of Fuchs 2 vehicles from the partner country.

In 2021, Rheinmetall had already received kits for the assembly of Fuchs 2 worth 250 million euros from an international customer - also as a follow-up order (ESuTreported). As the company announced at the time, the kits, including initial replacement parts, were to be produced at Rheinmetall in Kassel and delivered by 2023. Final assembly takes place in the customer country. With an estimated unit price of six million euros, there could be around 40 vehicles.

Rheinmetall does not name the customer. In April 2011, the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, Ernst Burgbacher, announced that the Algerian Ministry of Defense, the Algerian state-owned construction machinery manufacturer SOFAME, the United Arab Emirates' sovereign wealth fund Aabar and the German Ferrostaal AG founded the company Rheinmetall Algérie SPA in Algeria in March 2011 . Rheinmetall is a technology partner of this company and not a shareholder. The company's goal is to create a production facility for the production of “Fuchs” type armored personnel carriers.

A publication by the African news portal defenseweb in 2014 shows that the company was commissioned to supply kits for the production of Fuchs 2 to Algeria for almost three billion euros. A list of military equipment from the Algerian armed forces shows that the number of Fuchs armored personnel carriers has increased to 1,034 since 2011.

It can therefore be assumed that the international partner addressed by Rheinmetall is Algeria.

According to Rheinmetall, a total of around 1,800 Fuchs vehicles have been built to date. The armed forces of numerous nations use them in a wide variety of variants, for example as personnel transport vehicles, command posts or ambulances and for NBC reconnaissance. The Bundeswehr has been using the Fuchs 1 in a variety of versions since 1979. More than 100 Fuchs 1 vehicles were used in Afghanistan, among other places.

The TPz Fuchs 2 looks similar to the previous model. However, it has a more powerful drive (315 kW), more payload (eight tons) and improvements in the combat compartment, a digital on-board network and a modernized chassis with a tire pressure control system. As far as has been published, Fuchs 2 have so far been delivered to the USA (refitting) and the United Arab Emirates. The number of units is less than 100. In collaboration with Algeria, almost 1,000 Fuchs 2 units have been produced since around 2015. No further information about the project is available.

According to Rheinmetall, the Bundeswehr has a total of around 940 Fuchs vehicles, 272 of which are 1A8. This Fuchs 1 version already guarantees significantly improved protection against mines and booby traps compared to older models. At the same time, the ballistic protection of the vehicles has been increased. The main modifications to the Fuchs 1A8 include structural changes to the hull, new seats and seat suspensions in the crew compartment for decoupling from the hull floor, reinforcements of the wheel arches, doors and window mounts as well as additional storage boxes and reinforcements in the outside area.

The latest version Fuchs 1 A9 is one of three competitors on offer as the successor to the A8 version. A selection decision could be made this year.

Gerhard Heiming

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