According to recent reports, Patria, a Finnish arms company owned by the state and Norwegian defense equipment company Kongsberg, is still in the running for Germany’s major defense procurements. Patria has offered its 6×6 wagons as a replacement for Germany’s aging Fuchs vehicles, but German arms giant Rheinmetall has proposed a new version of the Fuchs.
While Bloomberg reported that Germany is buying 900 armored vehicles from Rheinmetall, Handelsblatt stated that Germany is actually purchasing successors to the Fennek reconnaissance vehicles and not the Fuchs. Patria’s director of communications, Sirje Ahvenlampi-Hyvönen, stated that the company has no comment on the matter as negotiations with Germany are ongoing and at a sensitive stage.
Germany is looking to replace approximately 800 aging Fuchs vehicles and Patria has been negotiating with the country for months regarding the deal. If Germany orders vehicles from Patria, they will be produced in Germany. The specifics of the negotiations have not been disclosed by Patria.