Patria AMV - Service

Service

The Polish Army has ordered 313 AMVs with the Italian Oto Melara 30 mm turret and 377 AMVs in various other configurations to be delivered between 2004 and 2013. Some of the Polish vehicles are currently employed in Afghanistan. The Polish vehicles are known as KTO Rosomak ("wolverine") in Polish Army service.

The Finnish Army has ordered 24 AMVs fitted with the AMOS mortar system and 62 AMVs fitted with Protector M151 remote weapon system for the .50 M2HB QCB heavy machine gun or the GMG grenade machine gun. The standard version is known as XA-360 in Finnish Army service, while the AMOS version is known as XA-361.

In June 2006, the Slovenian Ministry of Defence declared that the Patria AMV will be the new armoured fighting vehicle of the Slovenian Armed Forces. Patria will supply 135 vehicles, some equipped with the NEMO mortar, some with Elbit 30 mm remote controlled weapon station and the rest with Kongsberg Protector turrets. Allegations in Finnish media that bribery was used by Patria to secure the Slovenian contract led to a scandal and a criminal investigation in Finland and may have contributed to the defeat of Prime Minister Janez Janša in the 2008 Slovenian parliamentary elections. After military budget has been re-balanced due to financial crisis, the contract to supply 135 vehicles is most likely to be amended of which result would be less vehicles with better armament (30 mm).

In May 2007, the South African Denel Land Systems was awarded a contract to build an improved version of the AMV, with a high level of ballistic and mine protection for the South African National Defence Force. The AMV will replace South-African Ratels as part of the "Project Hoefyster" (Horseshoe). Five different versions are included: Command, Mortar, Missile, Section and Fire Support vehicles.

In July 2007, the Croatian Ministry of Defence selected the Patria AMV as the new armoured fighting vehicle of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia in their first international tender in its history. 84 AMVs will be supplied. Initially, the plan called for 84 8×8 vehicles and 42 6×6 vehicles. The Croatian Ministry of Defence has approved the purchase of 84 Patria AMV 8×8 vehicles. The 6×6 configuration idea was scrapped, and the remaining 42 vehicles were decided to be 8×8s. The purchase of the remaining 42 AMVs was made in December, 2008. Due to the financial crisis, the contract was slightly amended in April 2010. There was an initial plan of shelving the order by a half (64 vehicles were mentioned) but it was decided that the total of 126 units would remain on order. However, in order to somewhat decrease the cost of the deal, the most expensive variants like the NEMO or engineering units will probably be replaced by less costly APC variants. On the other hand, the production will be speeded up and all vehicles are to be delivered by the end of 2012.

The Republic of Macedonia government announced in 2006 that it will procure the same type which Croatian military chooses after test trials in 2007 because it is less expensive than conduct trials again at home. The configuration of Patria vehicles, which eventually won the competition, will be similar to those in Slovenian service but probably in smaller numbers. However, any contract has not been published.

In January 2008 Patria announced that the United Arab Emirates armed forces had ordered the AMV, equipped with the BMP-3 turret. The number of vehicles is yet to be announced.

On 30 January 2008 it was announced that Patria has offered to deliver 30 first AMVs within four months of ordering, if the Czech Army chooses AMV as its next APC. The Czech army had earlier chosen the Austrian Steyr Pandur as their next APC, but the Czech government withdrew from the deal at the end of last year, citing Steyr's failure to fulfill the commitments ensuing from the contract.

In August 2010, Patria sold 113 AMVs to Sweden in a deal worth 250 million Euros. The deal included an option for another 113 vehicles in the future.