Patria opens a new armoured vehicle production facility in Valmiera marking the start of full-cycle production of the Patria 6×6 in Latvia.
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Press Release, Helsinki, 24 May 2024: Today, on Friday 24 May, 2024, Patria has opened a new armoured vehicle production facility in Valmiera, Latvia. This marks the start of full-cycle production of Patria 6×6 armoured vehicles in Latvia, the first and so far, the only one in the Baltics.
“Patria has more than four decades of experience in developing and delivering state-of-the-art protected vehicles for troop transportation and system integration. Patria’s success in its market-leading armoured vehicles and related programmes, in which the unique, joint Common Armoured Vehicle System (CAVS) programme plays the key role, drives the opening of this new facility in Latvia,” says Esa Rautalinko, President and CEO of Patria. “We at Patria are proud about the close collaboration with Latvia and Latvian National Armed Forces. As in the case of Latvia, vast majority of supply of the vehicles is conducted by utilising the CAVS member nations’ local industry capabilities. Every new nation is inherently reinforcing the security of supply for the whole collaboration system.”
Defence Partnership Latvia, a Patria majority-owned joint venture with a local Latvian partner Unitruck, manages Patria’s Latvian production operations and the facility. Latvian Ministry of Defence ordered in 2021 more than 200 Patria 6×6 armoured vehicles for delivery by 2029. This cooperation agreement strengthens the combat capabilities of the Latvian National Armed Forces (NAF) as well as contributes to the development of Latvian defence technological and industrial base.
“The local Patria 6×6 project creates the conditions for a development breakthrough in the Latvian defence industry. Our new facility will focus on the delivery of armoured personnel carriers ordered by the Latvian National Armed Forces, but we are actively working to ensure that our facility also implements other capability development projects of the NAF and produces military equipment for the defence forces of other countries,” says Uģis Romanovs, Chairman of the Board of Defence Partnership Latvia, and Patria Latvia.
Patria 6×6 vehicle was chosen as the platform for the CAVS programme, participated already by Finland, Latvia, Sweden, and Germany. The CAVS-related Patria 6×6 deliveries are ongoing besides to Latvia, also to Finland and Sweden, and vehicles are in operational use. Patria has already received orders for nearly 700 Patria 6×6 vehicles. The programme is open to European countries with similar equipment requirements, subject to participating nations approval.
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