Finland and Latvia Agree to Develop Common Armored Vehicle System

Finland, Latvia and Patria Land Oy have signed a product development agreement on a common armoured vehicle system. The agreement is related to the Letter of Intent signed by the countries last spring.

The purpose of the product development agreement is to develop, in line with the common requirements of the countries, the prototype Patria 6×6 vehicle manufactured by Patria Land Oy to a common armoured vehicle platform, with an armoured personnel carrier and a command and control vehicle. The agreement makes it possible to build a comprehensive approach to develop common maintenance, logistics, training solutions or product development packages.

– We appreciate it that despite the situation caused by the COVID-19 epidemic we are able to continue the bilateral materiel cooperation in this way. Both countries were able to reconcile their requirements and reach an agreement, says Minister of Defence Antti Kaikkonen.

A joint product development organisation guides and supervises the work, with Finland acting as the lead country. The product development phase will last until the end of 2021 and, after concluding the product development agreement, Finland and Latvia will be able to start negotiations on possible serial procurements. The first deliveries could take place in 2021. A completely different agreement will be negotiated on possible serial procurements.

– This is an important opening for developing the infantry’s and the entire army’s mobility and building a new capability for our troops. With the joint research and product development project, it is possible to find solutions to improve interoperability, save life cycle costs and improve security of supply, notes Inspector of Infantry Colonel Rainer Peltoniemi from Army Command Finland.

The total value of the product development agreement is approximately EUR 7.3 million including VAT, and it comprises the common platform and the product development of an armoured personnel carrier and a command and control vehicle. Costs shall be shared equally between Finland and Latvia.

This article was published on October 15, 2020 by the Ministry of Defence, Finland.