Patria teams up with local firms for Germany’s new armored troop ride

PARIS — Finland’s Patria is teaming up with two German companies, including a unit of KNDS, to offer a local variant of its six-wheeled armored personnel carrier to replace Germany’s fleet of Fuchs vehicles.

Patria joined with KNDS-owned DSL Defence Service Logistics and FFG Flensburger Fahrzeugbau for the offer to design, build and maintain the future 6x6 armored personnel carrier for the Bundeswehr, the company said in a statement on Thursday. Patria will remain the prime contractor should Germany pick its vehicle.

Joining with local partners may assuage the concerns of some German politicians, who last year expressed concern that the government was turning abroad to replace the decades-old Fuchs. The government said in September the Bundeswehr needs about 1,000 armored 6x6 vehicles, with the new APC requiring ballistic and mine protection.

“The main design of the vehicle system comes from Patria, the lion’s share of the manufacturing is German,” Jörg Kamper, a board member of FFG, said in the statement. “This means that skilled jobs will be created in Germany, and German industry know-how, capacity and investments can be utilized and further developed in this program.”

Germany last year joined the Common Armoured Vehicles System program, originally set up by Finland and Latvia as a multinational project, with the Patria 6x6 vehicle picked as the main platform in 2019. Sweden joined the CAVS program in 2022.

Finland in January exercised an option to buy another 40 vehicles as part of the CAVS program, following up on 91 APCs acquired last year, while Sweden agreed to buy 20 Patria 6x6 vehicles in April, with future demand for several hundred vehicles this decade.

Germany is also reviewing the General Dynamics Pandur 6x6 and a new version of Rheinmetall’s Fuchs. Joining the CAVS program last year didn’t constitute a decision on the Fuchs successor, Parliamentary State Secretary Thomas Hitschler said in response to parliamentary questions in December.

Patria will lead the design and development of the system, with DSL and FFG providing local engineering, production and life-cycle support.

“We offer to adapt for German needs a cost-effective, fully developed, off-the-shelf platform – the Patria 6x6 – that is already in production, fielded by NATO partner nations and will be produced locally in Germany,” Hugo Vanbockryck, Patria’s senior vice president for Market Area Europe, said in the statement.

Germany in June announced a 2024 defense budget that would rise by €1.7 billion to €51.8 billion ($55.7 billion), and said in 2022 it would spend €100 billion as part of a special rearmament plan.

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.

巴黎——芬兰的 Patria 公司正与两家德国公司（包括 KNDS 的一个部门）合作，提供其六轮装甲运兵车的本地化版本，以取代德国现有的 Fuchs 装甲车。

Patria公司周四在一份声明中表示，该公司已与KNDS旗下的DSL Defence Service Logistics和FFG Flensburger Fahrzeugbau公司联合竞标德国联邦国防军未来6x6装甲运兵车的设计、建造和维护项目。如果德国最终选择该车型，Patria仍将是主承包商。

与当地合作伙伴携手合作或许能缓解部分德国政界人士的担忧。他们去年曾表示，担心政府转向国外采购来替换服役数十年的“狐狸”装甲车。德国政府在9月份表示，联邦国防军需要约1000辆6x6装甲车，新型装甲运兵车需要具备弹道和地雷防护能力。

FFG董事会成员约尔格·坎珀在声明中表示：“车辆系统的主要设计来自Patria公司，大部分制造工序在德国完成。这意味着德国将创造高技能就业岗位，德国的工业技术、产能和投资可以在该项目中得到利用和进一步发展。”

德国去年加入了通用装甲车辆系统计划，该计划最初由芬兰和拉脱维亚设立，是一个多国合作项目，并于 2019 年选定 Patria 6x6 车辆作为主要平台。瑞典于 2022 年加入了 CAVS 计划。

芬兰在 1 月份行使了购买 CAVS 计划中另外 40 辆车辆的选择权，此前芬兰已于去年购买了 91 辆装甲运兵车；而瑞典在 4 月份同意购买 20 辆 Patria 6x6 车辆，预计未来十年还将有数百辆的需求。

德国也在评估通用动力公司的潘杜尔6x6装甲车和莱茵金属公司福克斯装甲车的升级版。议会国务秘书托马斯·希奇勒在去年12月回答议会质询时表示，去年加入CAVS项目并不意味着德国已经决定福克斯装甲车的继任者。

Patria 将主导该系统的设计和开发，DSL 和 FFG 将提供本地工程、生产和生命周期支持。

“我们可根据德国的需求，对一款经济高效、完全成熟的现成平台——Patria 6x6——进行调整。该平台已投入生产，并已在北约伙伴国家部署，并将在德国本地生产。” Patria 欧洲市场高级副总裁 Hugo Vanbockryck 在声明中表示。

德国在 6 月份宣布了 2024 年国防预算，该预算将增加 17 亿欧元，达到 518 亿欧元（557 亿美元），并表示将在 2022 年花费 1000 亿欧元作为一项特别的重新武装计划的一部分。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。