Germany to buy another 131 Boxer APCs...via Defense News.

via Defense News

Plans to provide the German Army 131 more Boxer armored personnel carriers have passed the German Bundestag. On Wednesday, the parliament's budget committee approved the procurement of the APCs, a Defense Ministry spokesman confirmed.
The wheeled fighting vehicles carry a price tag of €654 million (US $709 million), including 19 percent VAT, parliamentary sources confirmed. While around €566 million will be spent on the vehicles, about €47 million is earmarked for weapon stations. European armaments agency OCCAR will implement the project. The vehicles in the configuration A2, which come with better protection than previous batches, are due for delivery from 2017 to 2021.
Last week, Lithuania announced its intention to order 88 Boxers in infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) versions with a 30 mm cannon and anti-tank missiles. The State Defence Council selected the vehicle for the 8X8 requirement on Dec. 11. Those deliveries are set for 2017 through 2020.

“The production capacities in Germany and the Netherlands for Boxer vehicles can easily cope with the second batch for Germany and the vehicles for Lithuania,” said Stefan Lischka, managing director of Boxer manufacturer Artec, a joint venture between Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. He even sees an increase in efficiency when production exceeds 30 units per year.

Two things.  First I wonder why the Europeans apply that "value added tax" to even items purchased by the govt?  It seems like an unnecessary doubling of expenses.  Why make the gear even more expensive by pasting a tax onto it?

The next thing is that the Boxer, somehow, is beating the excellent PUMA IFV in the  competition for the next general purpose armored vehicles for the German
Army.  That caught me totally by surprise.  Many experts consider the Puma the finest IFV in production (I'm partial to the CV90 but to each his own).