At DSEI, both the United Kingdom and Norway formalized their entry into the Common Armoured Vehicle System (CAVS) multi-national project centred on the Patria 6x6 APC.

This international framework has already seen Patria bag nearly a thousand orders from Finland (161), Latvia (256), Sweden (341), Denmark (130) and Ukraine (some 48 ordered directly or by supporting allies). 250 vehicles have already been delivered and massive further orders are expected in particular from Germany, which has joined the CAVS framework with an initial requirement for around 1,000 and a request for a binding offer for a first 300 units order. More recently, german sources have suggested the requirement has levitated all the way to 3,500.

For the UK, the Patria 6x6 is an “option” (the official used term at this moment in time) for the Land Mobility Programme Medium/Heavy segment. The requirement is still “flexible” but could run into the thousands depending on what exact roles will be assigned to the new fleet. As yet unconfirmed rumours suggest that the LMP Medium could see its remit expanded as the far more expensive BOXER’s own range of application shrinks.

For example, after looking at BOXER for the Armoured Mortar requirement, the British Army is reportedly now thinking of following the german example instead and have the Patria NEMO 120mm turreted mortar on CAVS rather than on the far more expensive 8x8.

The very first role for which the Patria 6x6 could be officially mandated, however, is the Manoeuvre SHORAD Fire Unit. According to a Pipeline Notice released in May, the MoD should have already, as of August, progressed towards award of a contract with a value of 48 million pounds (VAT included) for the definition of the Mounted-SHORAD Fire Unit (MSFU), through “Vehicle Selection and Multi Mission System (MMS) Assessment Phase (AP) activities”. The MMS, in practice, would be the turret, the selection of which is understood to be driven primarily by Thales in virtue of its role as supplier of the missiles to be used, the STARSTREAK and LMM.

The Patria 6x6 ascension in the UK had been evident for a while, considering that Babcock and Patria signed a teaming agreement in January 2025 to offer the CAVS for the British Army, with Babcock leading on adaptation of the vehicle for UK requirements and its production in accordance to the UK’s Defence Industrial Strategy.

Upon officialising the UK’s entry in CAVS on 9 September on the first day of DSEI, Babcock accordingly confirmed that it will expand its new production line in Devonport (Plymouth) with further facilities within the South Devon Freeport area, to produce CAVS locally.

The new UK production line will add to the lines already active in Finland and Latvia and the planned German line. It is assumed that German production of CAVS will be localized at the new 100,000 m² armoured vehicles factory to be built in Flensburg-Handewitt by Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft (FFG) with a planned investment of 75 million euro.

Assuming the UK and German orders both happen and are confirmed to be in the thousands, with demanding timelines, all the production lines will have work for years to come.

The British Army in theory is due to replace multiple fleets with the LMP Medium by 2030, including MASTIFF, RIDGEBACK and also the tracked FV432.

The size of Norway’s own order has yet to be defined as well.

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