Sweden Places €470 Million Order For Patria Armored 6x6s
Finnish defense company Patria announced on 20 March, that it had signed a contract with Sweden’s Defence Procurement Agency (FMV) worth €470 million (approximately $514 million) for the purchase of Patria’s 6×6 wheeled armored vehicles.
The contract covers the purchase of 321 6x6s in armored personnel carrier, command vehicle, and ambulance configurations. According to the Swedish defense ministry, the armored personnel carriers will be first to arrive, with deliveries expected to begin in the first half of 2025. The 6x6s are called the Pansarterrängbil 300 in Swedish Army service, with a pre-series of 20 vehicles already delivered in 2023.
Johan Lampinen, the head of the FMV’s armored vehicles section, says that the production of the series production vehicle took place at record speed. Lampinen credited the speed to Sweden’s membership in the Common Armoured Vehicle System (CAVS) collaboration program for 6×6 development, with only minor adaptations needed for the existing Patria 6×6 to meet Swedish requirements, allowing deliveries to take place quickly.
Among the modifications are new smoke grenade launcher systems, and automatic fire extinguishers, as well as vehicle weapons stations that can accept weapons including machine guns, grenade launchers, and anti-tank weapons. Mats Warstedt, Senior Vice President of Market Area Nordics at Patria, said:
“Sweden is an increasingly important market for us, and we are glad to be able to support the Swedish Armed Forces at a time of their significant expansion. We are confident that we can fill the deliveries promptly as we have done previously. Pansarterrängbil 300 vehicle is an excellent example of Finnish-Swedish cooperation as the vehicle is designed for Nordic conditions from the start and significant value is provided by Swedish suppliers, such as the engine and the steel of its armour”.
Sweden joined the CAVS program in 2022, with other program members including Finland, Latvia and Germany. Patria advertises CAVS as being open to other interested countries with similar requirements, with the mutual consent of countries already in the program.