Lithuania’s State Defense Council, the country’s top defense decision-making body, has backed the Ministry of National Defence plan to procure hundreds of Patria XA-300 6x6 APCs, with a contract now expected to be signed in 2027. Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda, who chairs the council, said that the plan calls for 936 vehicles in several variants. The 6×6 wheeled armoured vehicles will be used to replace the currently used tracked M113 APCs in “manoeuvre, command post tasks, medical support, fire support, engineer support, communication, reconnaissance and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) safety”, the Ministry’s statement says. It is also noted that the XA-300 is a “platform on which air-defense systems and capabilities can be installed, and it will also serve military medical and logistics purposes”, suggesting that a SHORAD variant might also feature.

The new vehicles are critical to the build-up of the Army Division that Lithuania intends to form. Funding for the acquisition has been mapped out to 2036. Patria has already been engaged for a year with Lithuanian industries to define plans for a technology transfer and to ensure local production is factored into the acquisition project. A local manufacturer partner will now be selected. The Patria XA-300 6x6 APC is truly an “international by design” project, having been established as “Common Armoured Vehicle System” (CAVS) through cooperation between Finland and Latvia all the way back in 2020. The CAVS initiative has since expanded to include Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany and the UK.

Deliveries are already in progress for Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Denmark and Germany, and vehicles have also been provided to Ukraine. In the UK, an update on Patria 6x6 procurement is expected later this year, particularly as work continues on a SHORAD variant intended to replace the British Army’s tracked Stormer HVM vehicles from 2028. Norway has recently finalized its agreement and is expected to place its first orders soon. According to the Lithuanian ministry, Patria’s vehicle was selected largely because of its relatively short production timeline and the industrial cooperation opportunities it offers to Lithuanian companies.

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