The Swedish defense procurement agency Försvarets materielverk (FMV) announced the transfer to the Swedish army on October 26, 2023, of the first of 20 new Patria 6x6 wheeled armored personnel carriers purchased, which received the official Swedish military designation Pansarterrängbil 300 A (Patgb300A). The vehicles were purchased from the Finnish Patria Group under a contract signed on April 17, 2023 as part of the multinational Common Armored Vehicle System (CAVS) program, in which Sweden participates together with Finland, Latvia and Germany.
The first new Patria 6x6 wheeled armored personnel carriers (Patgb300A) received by the Swedish Army, 26.10.2023 (c) FMV
The first Patria 6x6 cars were received by FMV under this contract for 20 units already in June. To date, Patria has delivered all 20 ordered vehicles, which, after completing the documentation and configuration, will be fully transferred to the Swedish army in early November. In order to speed up deliveries, FMV refused to declare any specific Swedish requirements for the supplied samples. These 20 vehicles are considered as pre-production before the planned purchase of 350 armored personnel carriers for the Swedish army in the period 2024-2033, which will already have to meet Swedish specifications.
According to the data released by FMV, the Patria 6x6 armored personnel carrier (Patgb300A) has a full combat weight of 24 tons and a capacity of two crew members and nine landing troops. The armament of the 20 pre-production vehicles received by Sweden is limited to a 7.62 mm machine gun in a turret hatch installation. Production vehicles for the Swedish army must be equipped with a remotely controlled combat module. The Patria 6x6 APC makes extensive use of Swedish-made components and systems, including the armored steel hull and the Scania diesel engine.
Recall that in January 2020, the Ministries of Defense of Finland and Latvia signed an agreement on the joint development of a new type of armored personnel carrier for the armies of these countries based on the armored platform of the Finnish Patria group in a variant with a 6x6 wheel formula. In April 2020, Estonia joined this agreement, but in the future it did not express interest in developing the program (eventually purchasing Turkish armored personnel carriers), so in October 2020, an agreement on a joint R&D program for an armored personnel carrier within the framework of a project designated Common Armored Vehicle System (CAVS) was signed only by Latvia and Finland., and the Patria group. Sweden also joined the CAVS program on June 1, 2022, and Germany in April 2023. On April 17, 2023, Sweden ordered the first 20 production cars of this type.
Presented for the first time in 2019 by the Finnish Patria group, the new 6x6 armored platform, according to the Finnish manufacturer itself, "combines all the best features" of its main current product in the form of the Patria AMV armored personnel carrier with an 8x8 wheel formula and the old Finnish Sisu\Patria XA armored personnel carriers with a 6x6 wheel formula, and is "simplified and cheaper" compared to with Patria AMV. This platform should not be confused with the three-axle variants of the AMV armored personnel carrier previously offered by Patria, which did not find customers. As can be judged, in fact, the new Patria 6x6 armored platform is a modified version of the new production proposed by Patria in 2016 under the designation HA-220 variant of modernization of previously built Pasi HA-180 armored personnel carriers with a 6x6 wheel formula - that is, in fact Patria, represented by its new 6x6 armored platform, now offers a reincarnation of the HA series.
The XA-180 (Pasi) armored personnel carriers with a 6x6 wheel formula were originally developed for the Finnish army by the Finnish company Sisu Auto and have been mass-produced at its plant in Hamenlinna since 1984. Since 1999, the production of heavier modified armored personnel carriers of the XA-200 series has been carried out. In total, up to 1200 machines of the XA series were manufactured by 2004, which were also exported to Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Ireland. In 1997, when the Patria state group was formed, the Sisu Auto company transferred to it the armored personnel carrier production plant in Hamenlinna, along with all the rights to the XA series cars.
On August 30, 2021, the Ministries of Defense of Latvia and Finland and the Patria Group signed a framework agreement on the joint production and acquisition of 6x6 armored personnel carriers under the CAVS program. At the same time, the Latvian Ministry of Defense signed a contract with the Patria Group in the amount of about 200 million euros for the purchase of more than 200 Patria 6x6 armored personnel carriers, including technical support and training of personnel. The delivery of armored personnel carriers to the armed forces of Latvia is planned from 2021 to 2029, and the first production vehicles were delivered in October 2021.
In 2021, the Finnish Ministry of Defense signed only a memorandum of understanding with the Patria Group on the intention to order 160 new 6x6 armored personnel carriers in 2023, stating that "specific contractual agreements will be related to clarifying the implementation of the program for additional mobility development of the Finnish ground forces." In June 2022, three APCs of this type were delivered to the Finnish army for military testing, and in July 2023, the Finnish Armed Forces ordered 91 serial APCs of this type (with an option for another 70 vehicles), with deliveries starting from the end of 2023.
One of the first new Patria 6x6 wheeled armored personnel carriers (Patgb300A) received by the Swedish Army, 26.10.2023 (c) FMV
