DTN News: Patria And Croatian MoD Agreed On An Amendment To The Armoured Wheeled Vehicle Contract

DTN News: Patria And Croatian MoD Agreed On An Amendment To The Armoured Wheeled Vehicle Contract

Source: DTN News / Patria

(NSI News Source Info) HELSINKI, Finland - August 24, 2010: Patria and the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Croatia signed an Amendment related to the manufacturing and delivery contract of 126 Patria AMV 8x8 wheeled armoured vehicles on July 2010. The negotiations were started on the Croatian MoD’s initiative due to the financial reasons. According to the amendment the number of vehicles remains unchanged and the deliveries will be completed by the end of 2012. The vehicle versions were updated to match the current requirements of the Ministry of Defence. Majority of the vehicles will be manufactured in Croatia by Patria’s local consortium partner Duro Dakovic Special Vehicles (DDSV).The new revised contract also strengthens financial capabilities of DDSV in this program. In addition to the initial batch of 6 vehicles manufactured in Finland Patria has completed the transfer of technology to DDSV. DDSV has already locally manufactured the first 9 Patria AMV 8x8 basic vehicles. “Patria is very pleased that the amendment negotiations were concluded in good cooperation and understanding with all parties. This new amendment further strengthens Patria’s leading position as the supplier of armoured wheeled vehicles but also opens possibilities for future business opportunities with our Croatian partner”, states Mr Seppo Seppälä, President of Patria Land & Armament Oy. Patria is a defence, security and aerospace group with international operations delivering its customers competitive solutions based on own specialist know-how and partnerships. Patria is owned by the State of Finland and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS N.V.

**Link to this article "Patria And Croatian MoD Agreed On An Amendment To The Armoured Wheeled Vehicle Contract - Patria"

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact: dtnnews@ymail.com

Contact Person: Patria

Seppo Seppälä

President, Patria Land & Armament Oy

Tel. +358 40 869 2680

Related Press Releases and News *23.08.2010 Patria and Croatian MoD agreed on an Amendment to the Armoured Wheeled Vehicle contract *13.08.2010 Patria wins the Swedish armoured wheeled vehicle contract *07.07.2010 Patria received a continuation order from the Finnish Air Force for Vinka basic training and Vinka fleet’s technical support *23.06.2010 Patria to receive an order for Upgrade of the Finnish Navy Fast Attack Crafts *23.06.2010 Corporate criminal liability requested for Patria subsidiary in connection with a howitzer project to Egypt 1998 - 2004

DTN News: Patria Wins Swedish Armored Modular Vehicles Contract

DTN News: Patria Wins Swedish Armored Modular Vehicles Contract

*Sources: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) HELSINKI, Finland - June 27, 2009: Finland's Patria Land & Armament (PLA) has secured a $338 million order for 113 Patria eight-wheel-drive AMVs (Armored Modular Vehicles) for delivery to Sweden as part of that country's Land Force's AWV 2014 Project. The decision must be approved by the Swedish government; that is expected in the autumn. The 113 AMVs are due to be delivered between 2011 and 2013. The AMV contract, which was placed by Forsvarets Materielverk (FMV), Sweden's state-controlled defense materials administration, suggests that the Swedish government has no plans to revive the Spitterskyddad Enhets Platform (SEP) modular armored tactical vehicle project, which was discontinued in September. "The SEP project was stopped last autumn because of funding issues, and it is not something we are working with now," said an FMV spokesman. "The Land Forces asked us to look at the market and source a modern armored wheeled vehicle, and this we have done after a competitive bidding process and full testing. This contract is the end result of this competition." BAE Systems Hagglunds' SEP, designed to offer advanced multipurpose protection, was originally planned as the Swedish Land Forces' next-generation modular armored tactical vehicle. The $338 million contract with Patria covers wheeled armored personnel carriers in five different versions, and includes the option for delivery of an additional 113 vehicle systems. The AMVs will be manufactured in Finland, using subcontractors in both Finland and Sweden. The Patria eight-wheel-drive AMV has operational combat experience with Polish and Finnish forces in Afghanistan and Chad. "The benefits for the Swedish economy in the form of offset programs and logistic support activities will also be significant," Patria CEO Heikki Allonen said. "We also value and highly emphasize the aspects of Nordic cooperation in this project, with benefits available to many of us in the defense industry in the Nordic countries." Patria began serial production of the AMV in 2004, and has obtained orders since that date for some 1,200 vehicles from Poland, Slovenia, Finland and Croatia. The Patria AMV is designed to provide high levels of protection, mobility and accessibility. The vehicle has a maximum combat weight of 27 tons with a payload of up to 11 tons. It has a three-man crew and can transport up to 12 personnel.

DTN News: Patria’s AMVs 8x8 Still Causing A Stir In Slovenia

DTN News: Patria’s AMVs 8x8 Still Causing A Stir In Slovenia *Sources: DTN News / Defense Media (NSI News Source Info) LJUBLJANA, Slovenia - June 20, 2009: After nearly two years of going back and forth with the officials, the story of Patria’s AMVs 8x8 seems far from over as allegations of corruption reach Slovenia in what may well be the final chapter of this Slovene-Finnish military saga. Defense Minister Erjavec at Patria’s presentation in january At the end of May 2006 the Slovene Army concluded its testing of two AMV (armoured modular vehicle) 8x8 models. The decision had to be made between the Finnish manufacturer Patria and the domestic Sistemska tehnika. While the latter were absolutely convinced that the job would go to them, it quickly became obvious that not everyone shared their opinion.

At first the Ministry of Defence did not wish to reveal the official results of the tests, which led many to believe that it would favour the domestic producer, yet what followed next surprised everyone. The Ministry refused the offer of the domestic provider and opted for the Finnish Patria, represented by a Slovene company Rotis. The decision was a true shock, nay, a major earthquake that has made Slovene ground shake ever since and has recently witnessed some major aftershocks coming all the way from Finland. On 12th June 2006 the Slovenian Ministry of Defence announced that Patria’s armoured modular vehicle (AMV) had been selected as the preferred vehicle for its armoured vehicle program. The order, negotiated at around EUR 278 million, included 135 8x8 armoured personnel carriers in 4 different versions, including one variant with Patria’s new unmanned NEMO 120mm mortar turret. Ten days later Patria announced the formation of a joint venture company for the Slovenian AMV programme with partners in Slovenia – the Gorenje Group, a household appliance manufacturer and Slovenia’s largest net exporter, and Rotis, a pipe, steel, and machine selling company. The AMVs 8x8 were to replace the old tanks of the Slovene army. The Ravne-based manufacturer Sistemska tehnika, which had already been supplying the army with AMV 6x6 Valuk models, thought their product – an AMV 8x8 Krpan had the unquestionable advantage over the Finnish Patria.

It was supposedly superior in terms of having the technical, economic and logistics edge over the former (not to mention that Valuk and Krpan have 40% of their parts mutually exchangeable, which could mean a significant advantage in the vehicle’s two-decade-long lifespan). Yet the government’s decision went the other way and left Sistemska tehnika livid with rage; the ground has not yet stopped shaking even after nearly two years of going back and forth with the officials. The minister responds The Minister of Defence Karl Erjavec justified the decision by saying that the offer of Rotis (representative of the Finnish Patria) was between 10-18% lower than the offer of Sistemska tehnika. Also the Ministry’s criteria, which included the price range, technical and commercial efficiency, long-term benefits for the Slovene economy in the form of offsets and the participation of the Slovene industry in the purchase of arms, were said to be better met by the Finnish manufacturer than the domestic one. Patria was thus chosen because it offered a lower price and benefits for the Slovene economy, since the whole deal was tied to industrial offsets. Sistemska tehnika, having lost the job for the purchase of AMVs for the Slovene Army, publicly revealed the details of the allegedly disputable offer of their Finnish counterparts, saying that their tender had procedural mistakes.

In the same breath they also talked about the financial and technical characteristics of their product, which supposedly were much better than those of their competition, and expressed their doubts that collaboration with the Finnish Patria would have benefits for the Slovene economy. Sistemska tehnika also questioned whether or not the commission adequately assessed their revised 1,400-page-long offer sent on 29th May 2006, since on that date the commission made its final decision, feeling that their supplemented offer was glossed over, yet their biggest complaint was made against Erjavec’s statement that Patria offered a lower price by some 10-18%. Rekindled doubts In March 2007, 38 delegates from the opposition filed a demand for the start of a parliamentary probe into the purchase of Patria’s AMVs 8x8. The investigation was aimed at discovering the links between the involvement and political responsibility of certain individuals, since there was a hint of corruption and clientelism in the whole deal.

A Patria AMV 8x8 vehicle exhibited by the Slovenian Army at a public display earlier this year.

It was thus not clear whether or not the contract was signed in terms with the actual tender conditions since it was revealed later on that the ministry did not purchase 135 AMVs with all the pertaining equipment but only 110, and it was not clear how the remaining 25 would be equipped and how much that would cost. The commission discovered that there existed indices that the actual offer of the Finnish Patria was actually different from the contract itself, since the offsets were not included in the contract. The Minister of Defence Karl Erjavec was not against the parliamentary commission, saying that all the arms purchases of the Slovene Army since the time directly following the independence should also be revised.

The parliamentary commission could probe into the suspicious arms purchases dating in the years just after the independence, since there are some who are said to be involved in these most recent purchases and the purchases made in the past. The opposition thinks that we are talking about the “arms connections” that were active in the past and have come back to haunt the arms commerce once again. Recent aftershocks The matters do not look as though they would settle down anytime soon. Just last month the Finnish police revealed that it had arrested two people under suspicion that Patria bribed certain officials to gain contracts with Slovenia and Egypt.

Patria categorically denied all charges made against them. Since corruption is a serious offence in both countries, Slovenia will annul the contract if these allegations are proved in court, thereby putting an end to this exhaustive military saga that has been going along for nearly two years. These recent irregularities in the purchase of arms have been very resounding and have re-opened many weapon-laden closets; needless to say, old skeletons re-surfaced with a bang. This recent affair is by far not the only of its kind in Slovenia; the one that is especially unpleasantly ringing in the back of everyone’s minds – “the mother of all affairs” – is the arms commerce that followed the independence and which is still a major stain of that period.

In the early 1990s Slovenia sold a lot of arms to Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which were wrapped in an on-going military conflict with Serbia, yet it was never fully revealed what really went on and what the exact numbers were, both in terms of quantity and the revenue received. There were many initiatives to probe into all this, yet all attempts were shut down and the general public never found out what exactly went on. Hopefully the deal with Patria does not follow suit.

DTN News: Croatia TODAY May 28, 2009 - Croatian Army Special Forces In Military Exercise

DTN News: Croatia TODAY May 28, 2009 - Croatian Army Special Forces In Military Exercise

(NSI News Source Info) ZAGREB - May 28, 2009: Croatian army special forces perform during the annual military parade in Karlovac, some 50 kilometres from Zagreb on May 28, 2009.

The Croatian army today marks its 18th birthday, two months after being accepted to NATO partnership as its 28th member.

Croatia and Albania To Join NATO

Croatia and Albania To Join NATO

(NSI News Source Info) April 1, 2009: Slovenia took the action on Croatia's behalf at the State Department on Monday, after doing the same for Albania on March 3, Gordon Duguid, a department spokesman,said. Croatian Army soldiers attend a briefing after joint military exercises with members of the Minnesota National guard at Gasinci training centre, some 200 kilometers (124 miles) east of Zagreb on February 26, 2009. NATO is expected to welcome Croatia and Albania as new members at a summit in April. "The deposit of Slovenia's instrument of ratification completed the individual ratification process of all 26 NATO allies needed for the admission of Albania and Croatia into NATO," Mr Duguid said. NATO Secretry General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer "will now issue official invitations to Albania and Croatia to join NATO," he said. Croatia and Albania will "take their seats as members of the alliance" at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's 60th anniversary summit at the end of the week, he added. In Ljubljana on Friday, Slovenian President Danilo Turk officially ratified Croatia's accession to NATO, after a referendum that threatened to hold up the process failed to materialize. The two neighbors are involved in a long-standing border dispute that has already stalled Croatia's EU accession process. But Slovenia insisted that the row did not effect Zagreb's NATO bid. After Greece ratified Croatia's accession in mid-February, Slovenia was the last of the 26 NATO members not to have handed the alliance its signature.

Bombardier Delivers First Bombardier 415MP Amphibious Aircraft To Malaysia

Bombardier Delivers First Bombardier 415MP Amphibious Aircraft To Malaysia

(NSI News Source Info) January 30, 2009: Bombardier Aerospace announced that Malaysia’s coast guard agency, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), has taken delivery of the first of two Bombardier 415MP amphibious aircraft ordered by the Malaysian government in June 2008. The Malaysian government is the launch customer in Asia for the specialized Bombardier 415MP aircraft. Present at an official ceremony held in Subang Jaya, Malaysia, was Datuk Seri Najib, Honourable Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia; Datuk Amdan, Director General, MMEA; and Mr. Michel Bourgeois, President, Specialized and Amphibious Aircraft, Bombardier Aerospace. The Bombardier 415 is a Canadian amphibious aircraft purpose-built as a water bomber. It is the only aircraft designed and built specifically for aerial firefighting and is based on the company's CL-215. It is marketed in the United States as the "Superscooper." A variant of the rugged Bombardier 415 amphibious aircraft – the only aircraft specifically designed for aerial firefighting – the Bombardier 415MP amphibious aircraft will be modified for maritime surveillance capabilities to meet the specialized needs of the MMEA. The first Bombardier 415MP aircraft delivered to Malaysia will be equipped with a state-of-the-art surveillance suite that includes two side-looking airborne radars, one forward-looking infrared radar, an airborne maritime surveillance system and other avionics and communications equipment. “Bombardier Aerospace is proud to deliver its first Bombardier 415MP aircraft to Malaysia. We are confident this hardworking aircraft, with its multi-purpose capabilities, will prove a worthy tool in Malaysia’s efforts to patrol its extensive waterways and to enhance its search and rescue missions,” said Michel Bourgeois, President, Specialized and Amphibious Aircraft, Bombardier Aerospace. “The aircraft’s ability to fly at low speed and low altitude with great maneuverability, and to execute direct interventions on water, makes it an ideal aircraft for coastal patrol missions. It is a very capable and cost-effective aircraft, able to carry out a multitude of specialized missions that previously required dedicated vessels and aircraft.” The multi-purpose Bombardier 415MP aircraft can be used in a variety of specialized missions such as search and rescue, environmental protection, coastal patrol and transportation. It is fitted with sophisticated sensors to locate and identify vessels, people in distress and pollutants. Since delivery of the first Bombardier 415 aircraft in 1994, Bombardier Aerospace has delivered 69 Bombardier 415 aircraft, including three Bombardier 415MP aircraft, to Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Ontario, Québec and Spain, with 42 aircraft in operation in the Mediterranean region alone. About BombardierA world-leading manufacturer of innovative transportation solutions, from commercial aircraft and business jets to rail transportation equipment, systems and services, Bombardier Inc. is a global corporation headquartered in Canada. Its revenues for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2008, were $17.5 billion US, and its shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BBD). Bombardier is listed as an index component to the Dow Jones Sustainability World and North America indexes. News and information are available at http://www.bombardier.com/. Bombardier, Bombardier 415 and Bombardier 415MP are registered and/or unregistered trademarks of Bombardier Inc.,or its subsidiaries.

Croatia Orders 42 More Patria AMV Armored Vehicles / Patria Received Additional Vehicle Order From The Croatian Ministry of Defence

Croatia Orders 42 More Patria AMV Armored Vehicles / Patria Received Additional Vehicle Order From The Croatian Ministry of Defence

(NSI News Source Info) January 23, 2009: The Croatian Ministry of Defence has on 22 January 2009 informed that they have extended the vehicle deal by additional 42 Patria AMV vehicles for the Croatian Army.

Patria and Duro Dakovic Special Vehicles as consortium partners and the Croatian Ministry of Defence signed the agreement covering 84 Patria AMV 8x8 vehicles including an option for additional vehicles already in October 2007.

Croatia has exercised an option for additional 42 Patria AMV armored vehicles; it already has ordered 84. (Patria photo)

Patria AMV 8x8 - with well over 1200 vehicles contracted and several hundreds of them delivered - is the choice of the Polish, Finnish, Slovenian, South African, Croatian and United Arab Emirates’ armies.

Patria is a defence and aerospace group with international operations delivering its customers competitive solutions based on own specialist know-how and partnerships. Patria is owned by the State of Finland and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS N.V.