On Monday, February 16, 2026, the German magazine Europäische Sicherheit & Technik (ESUT) reported that during the recent International Armoured Vehicles (IAV) Conference, held January 20–22 in Farnborough, United Kingdom, the commander of the Portuguese Army’s Brigada de Intervenção (BrigInt), Major General Miguel Freire, stated in an exclusive interview that the acquisition of 90 GTK Boxer wheeled armored personnel carriers is planned.
GTK Boxer / Photo: Bundeswehr
Although the interview itself had previously been published behind a paywall, and Portugal’s interest had already been signaled on October 24, 2025, by the Chief of Staff of the Portuguese Army (Exército Português), General Eduardo Mendes Ferrão, more detailed information has only now emerged.
According to these details, the Portuguese Ministry of Defence plans to conclude a contract with the German consortium ARTEC GmbH (ARmoured vehicle TEChnology, jointly owned by Rheinmetall AG and KNDS in a 64% to 36% split) through the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR).
The contract would cover 90 GTK Boxer (Gepanzertes Transport-Kraftfahrzeug) wheeled armored personnel carriers. The acquisition is to be financed through the EU’s SAFE (Security Action for Europe) preferential loan instrument, under which Portugal has been allocated 5,841,179,332 EUR, in accordance with a decision of the European Commission dated January 15 of this year. Preliminary estimates place the contract value at 1.3–1.5 billion EUR. According to some sources, in addition to baseline armored personnel carriers, Portugal is also interested in wheeled infantry fighting vehicles, for example equipped with the RCT30 or Lance turret.
If the deal is finalized, Portugal would become the eighth user of the GTK Boxer, after Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, Australia, Ukraine, and Qatar (Slovenia withdrew from the purchase in favor of the Finnish AMV XP 8×8).
The GTK Boxers would replace outdated tracked M113 armored personnel carriers (a total of 255 units acquired in various versions) as well as part of the wheeled Pandur II fleet (188 units in nine variants). Interestingly, the German magazine reports that deliveries could begin as early as this year and conclude by 2030.
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