Finn defense equipment company Patria sells 91 armored 6×6 crew transport vehicles to the Finnish Armed Forces.
The deal includes spare parts, tools and operation and maintenance training. It also comes with an option, i.e. the possibility of additional acquisition of 70 additional wagons.
The total value of the order and option placed on Friday is approximately 208 million euros.
Patria describes the order as the largest, which Puolustusvoimat has made for Patria for decades.
“The major European equipping has not yet started,” says Patria’s CEO Esa Rautalinko.
“Certain countries are taking action, such as Finland, Norway, Sweden, the Baltic countries and Poland, but other countries are a little slower to come from there.”
Patria and the Logistics Department of the Defense Forces signed a procurement contract for 6×6 wagons on Friday. In the photo, Jussi Järvinen (left), who is responsible for Patria’s operations in Finland, CEO Esa Rautalinko, Director of the Logistics Department Jari Mikkonen and Deputy Director Juha-Matti Ylitalo.
On Friday the announced wagon trade does not come as a surprise, as it has been primed for years.
In the fall of 2021, the defense administrations of Finland and Latvia reported on the first Patria 6×6 wagon sale, in which Latvia bought more than 200 wagons. It was the largest arms deal in the country’s history.
At that time, a letter of intent was also signed, according to which Finland will buy a batch of 160 wagons in 2023.
Patria 6×6 is not an infantry fighting vehicle but a modular personnel carrier that can accommodate a dozen soldiers and protects the soldiers during transport.
Such carriages are sometimes called “battlefield taxis”.
According to the basic concept of the cart, it must be as easy to use as possible and inexpensive to acquire and maintain, so that they can be purchased in large quantities.
“This wheeled vehicle is so excellent that its life cycle costs are clearly cheaper than tracked vehicles”, said the director of the Logistics Department, Major General, who was present at the signing ceremony Jari Mikkonen.
“The modular structure gives the advantage that it can be made into different versions with reasonable ease.”
The Defense Forces ordered the same type of crew transport wagons as Latvia before, but the wagon type can be used to build e.g. evacuation or command vehicles.
The 6×6 wagon manufactured by Patria was included in the Arrow military exercise organized last year.
Mobility development is one of the major ground-based projects of the Defense Forces in the 2020s. The new 6×6 wagon is a key part of that.
The defense forces are aiming for a technological leap into the mobility of the Army and the armored transport equipment of the troops.
Regarding bicycle vehicles, the intention is to buy new 6×6 wagons for the best-equipped operational troops and to transfer the old Pasi wagons purchased since the 1980s to the local troops.
The old Passports are still usable, because they have gone through extensive renovation and modernization.
However, according to Rautalingo, Pasi and 6×6 wagons are from a completely different generation. The differences can be seen, for example, in ease of use, travel comfort, adaptability and engine power.
Patria 6×6 the background is the pan-European Cavs (Common Armored Vehicle System) project, in which Finland is the lead country. In addition to Finland and Latvia, Sweden has purchased wagons within its framework. Germany is also coming along.
Sweden has ordered 20 wagons, but Sweden may yet become a real jackpot for Patria.
An article was published on the website of the Swedish Armed Forces in April, in which it was reported that Sweden is planning to order an additional 400 wagons. The wagons would be used by artillery and pioneer and anti-aircraft troops.
However, Esa Rautalinko says that there is no agreement on the matter.
“The Swedish Army wants to increase its performance. We believe that the 6×6 will be their crew transport vehicle in the future.”
Last last week it was reported that Patria supplies Nemo mortar systems to the combat boats of Sweden’s new coastal forces.
The state-of-the-art Nemo is one of Patria’s flagship products. According to Rautalingo, interest in it has increased with the war in Ukraine.
“For quite a few people, it has been on fire, so to speak, before the war in Ukraine, but now it has become actualized,” he says.
“The paradigm of warfare changed with the war in Ukraine. A large-scale ground war came to Ukraine, which the politicians of certain countries have not wanted to believe.”
Rautalinko says that Patria has organized test shootings of Nemo at the Lohtaja shooting range for the German Bundeswehr.
Germany is now joining the Cavs project. Nemo can be integrated into a 6×6 wagon, if, for example, Germany so wishes. Patria has already built such a wagon version.
“No one disputes Nemo’s cost efficiency and performance.”
Patria’s Nemo is also still included as an option in the projectin which the US Army plans to purchase turreted mortars.
A test version of the 6×6 wagon has also been made, with a Nemo grenade launcher mounted on it.
Defense forces new carriages are manufactured in Hämeenlinna.
“At the moment, we already have the preparatory activities at a good pace, so that the first significant batch of vehicles can be delivered to the Logistics Institute within the current year,” says Rautalinko.
The 20 wagons sold to Sweden are also made in Hämeenlinna. Likewise, the carriages already delivered to Latvia have been made in Finland, but the assembly of the carriages is to be expanded to Latvia.
According to Rautalingo, more employees have been hired in Hämeenlinna in recent years. However, according to him, there is still room to increase the capacity.
#Weapon #Shop #Finlands #military #industry #brink #jackpot #6×6 #coveted #Europe
