Does anyone remember that the "vaunted" Boxer IFV/APC is an almost 20 year old design?

Scrolling thru my Twitter feeds and ran across my bud Nicholas Drummond as usual he's a must read.  This one today has me spinning....

Boxer is a new class of 8x8 armoured vehicle being acquired to transform the Army. Combining exceptional off-rood mobility with on-road speed, it offers higher levels of mine and ballistic protection than legacy AFVs. We will initially acquire 500, but could get as many as 1,400. pic.twitter.com/KCe34i53kn

— Nicholas Drummond (@nicholadrummond) December 23, 2018

Nicholas and my bro Odgen love the Boxer.

I'm not as big a fan.  I think that "modularity" that is a hallmark of the vehicle is just a gimmick that has no real tactical value and probably adds unnecessary weight and a small bit of complexity that is unneeded.

Having said that there is one other thing.

The damn design is almost 20 years old now!

History of the BOXER

1990	Major European armed forces need vehicles to face future threats.
1994	Germany and France establish joint procurement and development study.
1995	German, British and French governments work in close cooperation.
1996	Competition between two Franco-German-British consortia. Competing consortium TEAM International GTK/MRAV/VBCI. Establishment of ARGE GTK/MRAV/VBCI. Concept studies of a 6x6 and a 8x8 vehicle.
1997	April - ARGE submitts offer to German Procurement Agency (BWB). The Netherlands get the status of an observer of the Programme.
1998	April - ARGE GTK wins the competition.
1999	September - France leaves the Programme. Foundation of ARTEC. November - bilateral contract signature.
2000	The European agency OCCAR (Organisation Conjointe de Cooperátion en matierè d'ARmament) gets customer for ARTEC.
2001	February - The Netherlands become a full partner in the Programme. Production start of 1st BOXER Prototype.
2002	December - Rollout of the first German BOXER Prototype.
2003	BOXER Prototype - ready for trials and tests. July - UK MOD announces withdrawal from the Programme.
2004	November - Germany and the Netherlands sign bilateral contract.
2006	Modified Armoured Personnel Carrier GE and Ambulance NL are presented at Eurosartory, Paris. December - Series Contract Signature.
2007	Production start for 1st Ambulance GE Prototype.
2008	Reliability Growth Trails after some 90,000 km successful finished. Production starts for 1st Series Vehicle.
2009	September - Rollout of the first BOXER Series Vehicle.
2010	BOXER vehicles are trialled in Australia and the United Arab Emirates. December - First German BOXER Command Post delivered.
2011	May - BOXER in operational use by German Army. June - Last German Driver Training Vehicle delivered. August - Deployment of first BOXERs into theatre. August - All four German BOXER versions in series delivery.
2012	Deployment of BOXER Command Post Vehicle and Ambulance into theatre. December - Last German Commanc Post Vehicle delivered.
2013	August - Delivery of first BOXER Driver Training Vehicle to Netherlands Army.
2014	April - Delivery of first BOXER Ambulance to Netherlands Army.
2015	June - 300th BOXER vehicle delivered. July - Delivery of first BOXER Command Post to Netherlands Army. December - Contract signature for 2nd batch of 131 BOXER APC vehicles for German Army.
2016	March - First BOXER Cargo delivered to Netherlands Army. May - Delivery of last BOXER Ambulance (272nd vehicle) to German Army. August - Trilateral contract signature. Lithuania joins the BOXER-Programme. August - Contract signature for 88 BOXER IFV for Lithuanian Army.
2018	February - The Government of the Republic of Slovenia announces that they intend to accession the BOXER-Programme. March - British Ministry of Defence announces that they will re-join BOXER-Programm and explore options to equip the Army with BOXER. March - BOXER is selected after competition for the Australian Army under Project Land 400 Phase 2.

Yeah that's right boys and girls. If this thing was a child it's almost old enough to buy alcohol in all 50 states.

But the UK Army has an even bigger question to answer.

How does it compare to the latest offerings we're seeing.  The KF-41 Lynx, the S. Korean Redback and the Singapore Hunter IFV?

If you sit back a second and take a look at the landscape you'll see that the UK labored hard and ended buying last years model.

That's not to say that it isn't good but you have to wonder how the Aussies were able to get manufacturers to come up with new designs for their program and the Brits were left with older but modernized versions of vehicles that have been in service for decades already.