On December 9, 2022, the Ministry of Defense of Japan announced that it had selected the AMVXP armored personnel carrier of the Finnish Patria group in a competition for a new wheeled armored personnel carrier with the 8x8 formula under the Wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier (WAPC) program for the ground forces of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. According to the statement of the Japanese Ministry of Defense, AMVXP should be produced in Japan under license. The Patria Group, for its part, stated that "the next step in the program is the license negotiations, which will begin immediately."
The first of two samples of the Patria AMVXP armored personnel carrier that participated in tests in Japan. Based on the results of the tests, the Patria AMVXP was selected as a new wheeled armored personnel carrier with the formula 8x8 under the Wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier (WAPC) program for the Land Forces of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (c) Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Agency (ATLA) of the Ministry of Defense of JapanRecall that the programs for the selection of a new generation wheeled armored personnel carrier by the Japanese ground forces have been going on since the 2000s.
At the last stage, the Ministry of Defense of Japan, rejecting the advance projects of the national industry, in 2018 began a tender with the participation of foreign companies under the Next Armored Wheeled Vehicle program, then lapidarily renamed simply Wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier (WAPC). In September 2019, the Japanese Ministry of Defense announced that it had selected AMVXP armored vehicles developed by the Finnish Patria group and LAV 6.0 of the American corporation General Dynamics (its Canadian branch of General Dynamics Land Systems - Canada) for testing as bidders. The third bidder was the Japanese corporation Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which developed the MAV (Mitsubishi Armored Vehicle) armored personnel carrier based on the chassis of its 26-ton cannon wheeled (8x8) armored vehicle type 16 MCV (Maneuver Combat Vehicle). The prototype demonstrator of the MAV APC was first introduced by Mitsubishi in 2014, and since then several samples have been built and tested.
Since General Dynamics delayed providing samples of its LAV 6.0 armored personnel carrier for testing in Japan (the Japanese ground forces demanded the provision of samples of a new construction), it dropped out of the competition, and in fact comparative tests since January 2022 were conducted between Patria AMVXP and Mitsubishi MAV machines (two samples were submitted). By many external observers, this tender was evaluated from the very beginning as a cover for choosing MAV, so the current decision of the Japanese Ministry of Defense in favor of Patria AMVXP became a sensation. It should be noted that since the late 1950s, the Japanese army has adopted armored vehicles of strictly national design, albeit often produced in very small batches.
In the Japanese Land forces, the AMVXP armored personnel carriers are to be replaced by the Type 96 wheeled (8x8) armored personnel carriers developed and mass-produced from 1996 to 2018 by Komatsu Corporation (a total of 381 units were delivered). According to the draft defense budget of Japan for 2023, it allocates 23.2 billion yen ($ 170 million) for the purchase of the first batch of 29 vehicles under the WAPC program, with the start of deliveries in three years. The Patria Group has established a local subsidiary, Patria Japan Ltd., to support its operations in Japan.
Japan will thus become the second customer after Slovakia of the new version of the Patria AMVXP armored personnel carrier, first introduced by the Patria Group in 2013. The AMVXP differs from the "basic" widely known Patria AMV armored personnel carriers by a higher level of protection, including mine protection. The maximum combat weight of the platform has been increased to 32 tons, and the payload weight can reach 15 tons. The machine is offered by Patria in non-floating (combat weight up to 32 tons) and floating versions (full combat weight up to 28 tons). The AMVXP is declared to be equipped with modular variants of structural protection, as well as the modularity of the hull design, which allows creating various variants of vehicles on the platform. AMVXP is equipped with a 603 hp Scania diesel engine and a powerful electric generator capable of providing power supply to both special equipment that can be installed on various variants of the vehicle and equipment of promising infantry equipment.Slovakia signed an agreement on the acquisition of 76 Patria AMVXP armored combat vehicles in August 2022.
jpg">
The second of two samples of the Patria AMVXP armored personnel Carrier that participated in tests in Japan under the Wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier (WAPC) program for the ground forces of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, during trial tests at the Fuji Training Center (Shizuoka Prefecture), December 2021 (c) Masai TakewakaOne of the prototypes of the Mitsubishi MAV armored personnel carrier (c) Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Agency (ATLA) of the Ministry of Defense of Japan that participated in the tests under the Wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier (WAPC) program for the ground forces of the Japan Self-Defense Forces
