Finland, Norway and Latvia agreed to cooperate on the development and possible joint purchases of tracked vehicles from Patria Oyj in the latest sign that European governments are increasingly working to pool orders of defense equipment amid growing threats from Russia.
The three countries will work together on the all-terrain vehicle TRACKX that’s designed to boost the mobility of land forces. They signed a letter of intent on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Ankara on Tuesday, where allies unveiled $12 billion in key defense industry deals.
According to Patria, it’s the first procurement framework to emerge from the European Defense Fund that allocated about €200 million ($229 million) to the armored vehicles program.
“There is potential demand in Europe for as many as 10,000 tracked vehicles, as around 4,500 aging vehicles were already in service before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” Jussi Järvinen, executive vice president of Protected Mobility, said in an interview.
“The war in Ukraine has demonstrated that demand for protected tracked vehicles remains strong despite the proliferation of drones,” Järvinen said. Such vehicles are increasingly needed to transport troops and equipment or serve as platforms for weapons systems far from the front line, where drones can still pose a threat, he said.
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