Germany Orders 84 RCH 155 Boxer Howitzers to Reinforce Artillery Capabilities.

Germany will field 84 RCH 155 wheeled self-propelled howitzers after KNDS Deutschland secured a €1.2 billion order through the Boxer joint venture ARTEC. The purchase strengthens Berlin’s medium force artillery while signaling a broader European shift toward survivable, high mobility fires in response to lessons from Ukraine.

Germany’s Bundeswehr is moving to modernize its artillery arm with a major purchase of the RCH 155 wheeled self-propelled howitzer, following an order placed by ARTEC, the Boxer joint venture between KNDS Deutschland and Rheinmetall Landsysteme. According to information released by KNDS on 19 December 2025, the €1.2 billion package covers 84 systems along with training equipment, logistical support, and in-service sustainment, underscoring that Berlin is buying an immediately deployable combat capability rather than a limited vehicle fleet.
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The RCH 155 combines a 155mm L52 automated gun with the protected Boxer 8x8 chassis, delivering rapid shoot-and-scoot, on-the-move firing, and long-range precision strikes beyond 50 km, all operated by a two-soldier crew under armor for high survivability on a drone-saturated battlefield (Picture source: KNDS).

At the technical level, Germany is procuring a protected, turreted artillery system built around a 155mm L52 gun compliant with the NATO Joint Ballistic Memorandum of Understanding. The RCH 155 mounts the automated Artillery Gun Module on the Boxer 8x8, with an unmanned turret and a two-soldier crew, driver and commander, operating under armor. Automation covers navigation and fire control, gun laying, and fully automated projectile and modular charge handling with inductive fuze setting during loading, while the onboard stowage is listed as 30 fused rounds and 144 modular charges. In standard configurations, ARTEC states up to 9 rounds per minute and an effective range of up to 40 km with base bleed, up to 54 km with V LAP, and up to 70 km with VULCANO-type extended range ammunition.

What changes the tactical playbook is mobility under fire. KNDS and ARTEC stress that RCH 155 is designed for rapid shoot and scoot and Multiple Round Simultaneous Impact missions, but also for firing on the move and engaging moving targets, a feature marketed as a standalone capability to keep the system relocating while still delivering accurate fires. In a European battlefield saturated by drones and counter-battery sensors, that matters as much as raw range. A battery that can halt briefly, fire, and displace immediately, or even fire while rolling, compresses the enemy’s detection to decision timeline and forces greater expenditure on reconnaissance and loitering munitions simply to keep pace.

Germany’s reason for ordering it is written into the program logic itself: RCH 155 is intended to complete the newly established Medium Forces and become their primary artillery weapon system. In practice, that points to Boxer-centered formations expected to move quickly by road across Germany and the eastern flank, then fight dispersed while remaining protected. The Boxer chassis also reduces friction in service. Germany already sustains a growing family of Boxer variants, and a common base vehicle simplifies driver training, spare parts pipelines, and depot-level maintenance compared with adding a separate truck fleet for artillery.

The buy also fits a broader German artillery rebuild. Berlin is simultaneously funding ammunition depth after the war in Ukraine revealed how quickly 155mm stocks evaporate in high-intensity combat. Germany has placed major emphasis on industrial scale-up, with long-term contracts aimed at guaranteeing sustained production of artillery ammunition for national use and for allies.

Compared with what the German Army fields today, RCH 155 is best understood as a wheeled sibling to the tracked Panzerhaubitze 2000. KNDS itself describes RCH 155 as a systematic further development based on the PzH 2000. The tracked howitzer remains a benchmark for burst fire and sustained rate of fire, but it requires a larger crew and brings tracked mobility and weight that are less forgiving for long road marches and rapid strategic redeployment. Germany also operates the MARS family for rocket artillery effects, yet tube artillery remains the backbone for responsive, continuous fires, especially when precision 155mm and extended range projectiles are paired with NATO digital fire control.

Against Western competitors, RCH 155 lands between two established approaches. France’s CAESAR, particularly in its 8x8 form, emphasizes expeditionary weight and road mobility with a lighter platform. Sweden’s Archer pushes very high automation and fast mission execution, but it is not built around the Boxer fleet commonality. Germany bets that a protected Boxer-based artillery system with a two-soldier crew and on-the-move fire capability offers the best fit for medium brigades expected to survive under persistent surveillance.

Finally, this procurement is unfolding inside a much larger political acceleration. In December 2025, Germany’s parliamentary budget committee approved more than €50 billion in defence contracts, an investment wave framed by Berlin as necessary to meet NATO force goals and to respond to the security shock created by Russia’s war against Ukraine. It also mirrors a wider European tendency, with defence spending rising across the continent as governments shift from reassurance to rearmament and rebuild high-intensity warfighting capabilities long considered dormant.