KNDS Displays Boxer UxV CS Armored Drone Command Vehicle for High-Threat Warfare in Germany.

KNDS Deutschland has unveiled the Boxer UxV CS, an armored 8x8 mission module designed to control unmanned aerial and ground systems, now undergoing Bundeswehr trials in Germany. The system reflects lessons from Ukraine, where survivable, mobile drone command posts have become essential to sustaining operations under constant surveillance and strike threats.

KNDS Deutschland has rolled out a new Boxer mission module designed to control unmanned aerial and ground systems, giving mechanized formations a protected, highly mobile command node for drone and robot operations under fire. Seen by Army Recognition at Enforce Tac in Germany, the Boxer UxV CS (Control Station) is best understood as an attempt to harden and professionalize the drone operations cell that has become indispensable in Ukraine, but is often still executed from soft-skinned vehicles, improvised shelters, or fixed sites that are increasingly vulnerable to counter-strikes.
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KNDS’ Boxer UxV CS displayed at Enforce Tac in Germany, showcasing a protected 8x8 mobile command post designed to control multiple unmanned aerial and ground systems while operating alongside mechanized formations in high-threat environments (Picture source: Army Recognition Group).

Rather than presenting a notional concept, KNDS is already running prototypes in Bundeswehr trials, with demonstrators having been active on German training areas for several months. That matters because the operational problem is immediate: drone teams are now hunted through emissions, patterns, and rapid-strike chains, so survivability increasingly depends on being able to move, set up quickly, and displace again before the enemy can react.

UxV CS leverages what makes Boxer strategically attractive in the first place: a protected 8x8 drive module married to a role-specific mission module. Boxer’s program structure was built around modularity to reduce variant risk while keeping common automotive and protection baselines across fleets. On the Enforce Tac display vehicle, the published specifications align with Boxer’s established mobility envelope: 720 hp, road speed above 100 km/h, and road range above 750 km, with a displayed combat weight of 38.5 tonnes. The demonstrator’s dimensions were listed at roughly 7.9 m long, 2.9 m wide, and 3.5 m high, with 0.5 m ground clearance and a 21 m turning circle that can be reduced to about 15 m using a steering-brake mode. Obstacle performance was presented as a 2.0 m trench-crossing ability, 0.8 m step or climb capability, 60 percent gradeability, and 30 percent side slope tolerance. Protection is described in practical battlefield terms: resistance to vehicle and antipersonnel mines plus medium-caliber threats, artillery fragments, and bomblets.

UxV CS is configured with five identical operator workstations, each built around three touch displays, two joysticks, and a keyboard, effectively turning the vehicle into a rolling UxV operations center. Communications are handled through radios and a dedicated antenna fit, with mast options that include a 4 m extendable solution and an alternative 6 m pneumatic mast to improve line-of-sight range. KNDS has positioned the system as open architecture, meaning the control station is not tied to a single drone or robot supplier and can be adapted to different data links and national command networks.

Operationally, this configuration supports a shift from single-drone teams to formation-level unmanned management. Five stations imply simultaneous control of multiple systems, but the same human-machine interface approach can scale toward swarming, multi-vehicle tasking, and tighter integration with fires, reconnaissance, logistics, and casualty evacuation missions as autonomy and teaming mature. The employment model is also pragmatic: the Boxer is not a launcher platform, so drones would likely be towed on a trailer or deployed by a separate element, allowing operators to remain displaced from predictable launch points that are frequently targeted in modern high-intensity conflict.

In terms of users, the UxV CS module is currently best characterized as an emerging German capability in evaluation rather than a widely fielded standard variant. Its export logic, however, is clear because Boxer is already entrenched across multiple armies, including Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, and Australia. With more than 1,000 vehicles contracted globally and production lines active in Europe and Australia, a UxV control variant could be offered to existing Boxer operators seeking to integrate unmanned systems into brigade-level maneuver formations without introducing a new vehicle type.

Compared with competitors, many 8x8 families offer command-post variants, and containerized ground control stations can be mounted on tactical trucks at a lower acquisition cost. Boxer UxV CS competes by concentrating multiple UxV crews, armored protection, mast-mounted connectivity, and fleet commonality into a single platform that can keep pace with heavy mechanized units. The trade-off is a larger signature and higher unit cost, but the design intent is clear: to ensure that unmanned operations can survive, maneuver, and remain connected in a contested electromagnetic and artillery environment.