LONDON — The United Kingdom and Norway joined the Patria-led European program for a six-wheeled armored personnel carrier, bringing the number of participating countries to seven, the Finnish company announced at the DSEI UK defense show here on Tuesday.
Patria and British defense firm Babcock International additionally signed an agreement to manufacture the armored carrier in the U.K. under the program, called Common Armoured Vehicle System or CAVS, the companies said.
The Finnish defense company is the lead designer of CAVS, based on the Patria 6x6 wheeled platform and manufactured in Finland but also locally in Latvia, with plans for production in Germany. The APC costs between €1.1 million and €1.5 million (US$1.3 million-1.8 million) per vehicle, based on recent purchases by Latvia and Sweden.
“As European security needs to be strengthened, multinational collaboration is increasingly important for interoperability, interchangeability and security of supply among allies,” Patria CEO Esa Rautalinko said in a statement.
Patria says it’s received orders for nearly 1,000 6x6 vehicles, and delivered more than 250 through the CAVS program, making it the current best-seller in the Finnish company’s portfolio.
Separately, Patria announced a new tracked APC at DSEI UK on Tuesday for all-terrain troop transport, which it aims to have ready for serial production in 2027.
Babcock will manufacture the Patria 6x6 vehicles for the British Army, under the agreement announced on Tuesday, after the U.K. Ministry of Defence officially joined the CAVS program.
“Our partnership brings clear benefits,” said Jussi Järvinen, Patria’s executive vice president for protected mobility. “The UK needs a proven ready-to-use vehicle platform, and the Patria 6x6, already operational in NATO countries, will be locally built and supported to meet British Army requirements.”
Babcock said CAVS is being used by a growing number of countries in the Joint Expeditionary Force alliance, of which the U.K. is a member, with JEF members Finland, Latvia, Sweden, Denmark and Germany all buying the APC.
“We are proud to be working with Patria as their official build partner on the 6×6, and as a strategic partner of the British Army, we are perfectly positioned to deliver a large fleet of formidable, proven armored personnel carriers,” said Tom Newman, the CEO for Babcock’s land sector.
CAVS has Stanag level 2 ballistic and mine protection, designed to withstand armored-piercing rifle rounds, and can be upgraded to level 4 for protection against high-caliber AP rounds. The vehicle can carry up to 10 soldiers in the rear, in addition to the driver and commander.
The all-wheel-drive, diesel-powered APC has a maximum combat weight of 24 metric tons, including a maximum payload of 8.5 tons, and has a top speed of more than 100 kilometers per hour and a range of more than 700 kilometers.
Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.