Croatia's 2007 Wheeled APC Competition

[Aptrgangr]

Croatia's 2007 Wheeled APC Competition

01-Aug-2007 22:32 | Permanent Link
Related stories: RFPs, Tanks & Mechanized, EADS, Other Corporation, Europe - Other, General Dynamics


AMV + RLS turret

Many European countries are currently in the process of acquiring wheeled armored personnel carriers, from former East-Bloc nations replacing their old Soviet BTRs, to NATO countries buying lighter and less protected equipment as replacements for their tanks, to new European states looking for road-mobile and affordable armor. Recent contracts in in Europe have tended to involve competitions between 3 key competitors: General Dynamics subsidiaries MOWAG (Piranha) and Steyr-SSG (Pandur), and Finland's Patria Oyj (AMV).

Croatia's finalists were Patria's AMV and GD Steyr's Pandur II. Reports indicate that the Croatian Army is interested in up to 126 vehicles, with EUR 170 million set aside for the project. Now, there are reports that a winner has been selected – but a DID correspondent on the scene says it isn't so…

Another Round in the Competition Begins…


Pandur II w. RCWS-30

Patria has won some of these European competitions, including a large 690-vehicle contract in Poland, 84 AMV orders so far from Finland that include 24 breech-loading 120mm AMOS twin-mortar variants, and a recent order from Slovenia for 135 vehicles in 4 different versions, including one variant with Patria's new unmanned NEMO 120mm mortar turret. It has also lost competitions to Steyr in The Czech Republic (199 Pandur IIs for $1 billion), and Portugal (260 Pandur IIs for $482 million).
A Croatian media report claims that a EUR 200 million contract to deliver 126 Armoured Vehicles to the Croatian Army has been awarded to Patria's AMV, with the vehicles built by Duro Dakovic special vehicles in Slavonski Brod. The report adds that GD Steyr's Pandur II had oil leaking problems and one punctured tire during the tests. DID's local correspondent says the report is false. See below.
Patria Oyj is owned 25%/75% by the Finnish State and EADS, and its AMV has been in serial production since 2004. Steyr is now a subsidiary of General Dynamics Land Systems.

Events & Updates


AMV MEDEVAC interior

July 31/07: Our local correspondent Igor Tabak writes DID to say that the selection report is incorrect:
"Our defence minister Roncevic issued a demati of that story on the same day – reported mostly on the next day (on 24th of July) – in it, the Minister stated that the government's board on IFV should get together sometimes this week and get a decision ready for the government of Croatia. There was talk of public release of the bid's winner sometime during the autumn …. there was talk of early October …
No official details were issued on the actual rest results … so not a word on the problems mentioned….
But bear in mind that, so far, there has been a whole range of stories on defects of all sorts. Patria has a MUCH better marketing effort in Croatia, so it is hard to say if there is any merit to those stories, or if it is pure propaganda. I couldn't yet reach the actual experts from the MoD to try verifying any of it and I didn't see the defects myself. As only a part of the testing procedure was open to the public everything is possible (the press was kept on a distance of at least 5-10 meters, so we could easely miss a minor oil leak, the tire problems were not visible)."

July 23/07: A Croatian media report claims that a EUR 200 million contract to deliver 126 Armoured Vehicles to the Croatian Army has been awarded to Patria's AMV, with the vehicles to be built by Patria and by Duro Dakovic special vehicles in Slavonski Brod. The report adds that GD Steyr's Pandur II had oil leaking problems and one punctured tire during the tests.
There has been no independent confirmation yet from Patria or Croatia's MoD. Hat tip to reader Pedro Lucio for the pointer.
July 9/07: Croatian defense writer Igor Tabak informs DID that testing has started in Croatia "...our APC bid has 4 vehicles involved … Patria AMV 8*8, Patria AMV 6*6, Steyr Pandur 2 8*8, and MOWAG Piranha 3 8*8. After last week's static testing (began on 09.7; Piranha vehicle arrived on the 11th), this week the dynamic tests will be conducted by the Croatian Ministry of defence & Djuro Djakovic Special Vehicles Co."
He'll be attending the dynamic tests on an invite from the Ministry of Defence, described in this MoD release.

Feb 9/07: Croatia's "Armoured Combat Vehicle Project Committee" met; with the requirements defined, a decision was made to solicit final and binding offers from Patria (AMV) and Steyr Damlier Puch (Pandur), including required industrial offsets. The bilingual tender documentation will include both 6×6 and 8×8 combat vehicles; once delivered, the companies will have 60 days to evaluate it and submit. Testing will follow. See Croatian release at Defense-Aerospace.

Croatia\'s 2007 Wheeled APC Competition (defense procurement, military acquisition, defence purchasing)

Finland's Patria Wins Croatian Armour Tender -Hina


Patria has not confirmed new press reports that its AMV has won Croatia’s armored vehicle competition. (Patria photo)

Croatia has picked Finnish arms maker Patria as the supplier of 84 armoured personnel carriers, Croatian news agency Hina reported on Thursday.

In the final stage of the tender, Patria's sole rival had been Austria's Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeuge.

The value of the tender is about 200 million euros.

Patria's Armoured Modular Vehicle range has become something of an export success, with completed sales to Slovenia, South Africa and Poland, the latter order being valued at 1.2 billion euros.

defense-aerospace.com


A nice new toy for Iraq missions I presume...

[Marcus Marulus]

Originally Posted by Aptrgangr

A nice new toy for Iraq missions I presume...

Yes, that's what it is, most probably.

They spent a whole lot of money on those vehicles, without having ever explained and justified it in terms of strategy and tactics, as to what importance they are supposed to have from the standpoint of the defence of the fatherland.

So it is most probably meant to serve as equipment in foreign missions, in the Croatian auxiliary troops of the Yankees. Or maybe their aim is to help quelling some imaginary future rebellions (whether of social or nationalistic character) against the traitorous regime(s). Such rebellions are highly unlikely ever to happen, but you can never underestimate the level of paranoia that can be found in the crazy heads of politicians.

All that money could have been spent more usefully, whether in the military or in some other budget.