Patria leads next-generation armoured vehicles being developed in a European co-operation project

Patria leads a defence industry consortium that has now been selected as part of the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP), which is an industrial programme of the EU.  As part of the EDIDP, the focus will be on Ground Combat Capabilities (GCC) to develop next generation armoured platforms and upgrade existing ones. Patria acts as the industrial coordinator of the EDIDP-GCC-2020 and has formed a consortium called FAMOUS (European Future Highly Mobile Augmented Armoured Systems) to execute the programme. The consortium includes 20 leading defence companies from different EU countries.

The EDIDP is a defence industry development programme designed to support the competitiveness and innovation capacity of the union's defence industry. The EDIDP is the first EU-funded programme to develop defence capabilities, with a financial envelope of €500 million. The selection for the EDIDP programme was made at the end of June 2021 and the actual start of the project will take place in autumn 2021. The Ground Combat Capabilities project led by Patria will last two years.

The FAMOUS programme aims to develop future technologies and performances that enhance ground combat capabilities in the areas of mobility, hybrid operation, power generation and energy storage, such as well as security systems, situational awareness, robotics, C4I solutions, weapons systems and modern life cycle support solutions.

“Patria, as an international company with unique expertise in defence on land, sea and in air, is the consortium coordinator by leading and coordinating the FAMOUS programme. All 19 companies, including ground combat system integrators as well as high-tech midcap and small and medium-sized enterprise companies, will bring highly complementary expertise, technologies, and know-how to the project. A comprehensive combination of various top-of-the-art land system capabilities will substantially improve the performance and technology of armoured platforms”, says Esa Rautalinko, President and CEO of Patria.

“This development programme is valuable not only because of platform development, but also because it is a unique and innovative approach to develop areas of next generation technology that can be utilized in a variety of armored vehicles and systems. These concepts can be made rapidly available and implemented already during the current Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) in future system architectures as well as utilized in future European armored vehicle systems. Development work is not only funded, but that the products eventually reach their actual use. This approach will lead to unity and thus increase coherence, standardization and compatibility between different platforms in the EU”, says Jussi Järvinen, President of Patria’s Land business unit.