BERLIN — Finnish defense contractor Patria will partner with Norway’s Kongsberg to integrate a remote weapons station onto the Common Armoured Vehicle System, the companies announced on March 26. The contract is worth NOK1.2 billion (around $111.5 million), according to Kongsberg.
The announcement comes less than a week after Sweden signed a deal to purchase 321 of Patria’s three-axle modular armored personnel carriers. That contract is worth around 470 million Euros, the company said, and will bring the Swedish total up to 341 vehicles.
The Common Armoured Vehicle System is a defense research and development program between Finland, Latvia, Sweden and Germany. Stockholm joined the initiative in 2022, Berlin followed suit in April 2023.
Patria is also collaborating with two German companies to develop a variant of its six-wheeled vehicle for the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces.
Kongsberg’s Protector RS4 remote weapons station will be integrated into “more than 300″ Swedish and Finnish Patria 6x6 vehicles, the latest press release stated. Finland has purchased a total of 131 of the vehicles to date, most recently submitting a new order for 40 units in January of this year.
According to the manufacturer, the Protector is “the world’s most-fielded remote weapons system.” More than 20,000 units have been delivered, and it is widely used throughout the U.S. armed forces. Patria will be in charge of integrating the system into its vehicles.
With all four CAVS members now being NATO states – following the accessions of Finland and Sweden – Kongsberg president Eirik Lie said that the weapons choice would support the alliance’s vision of interchangeable equipment and security of supply.
Patria and Kongsberg are majority-owned by the Finnish and Norwegian governments, respectively.
In Sweden, the vehicle is known as the Pansarterrängbil 300 and will be used in a variety of roles, ranging from troop transport to command and control, and as ambulance transport. Mats Warstedt, a senior vice president at Patria, called the venture an “excellent example of Finnish-Swedish cooperation,” portraying the vehicle as Nordic in character – designed to withstand harsh conditions, and with materials sourced from the region. Swedish companies provide the engine and steel for the armor, he said.
“This agreement enables a unique opportunity to deliver weapon systems to serve the needs of multiple countries under one contract and is yet another milestone for the international CAVS program,” said Lie.
Deliveries of the vehicles with the integrated weapons stations are set to begin next year and take until the 2030s to complete.
Linus Höller is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He covers international security and military developments across the continent. Linus holds a degree in journalism, political science and international studies, and is currently pursuing a master’s in nonproliferation and terrorism studies.
