With at least two prototypes of the FAMOUS programme’s Tracked All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) undergoing trials in Finland, project co-ordinator Patria brought a mock-up of the vehicle to Eurosatory 2024, held in Paris from 17 to 21 June, to officially launch the concept.
Developed under the EU’s European Future Highly Mobile Augmented Armoured Systems (FAMOUS) programme, for which Finland is the lead nation, the new ATV has received funding from the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) and European Defence Fund (EDF) as well as participating nations.
The aim of the programme is to improve the performance of new and existing armoured vehicles with the support of EU funding. Patria stated in a press release on 17 June, “The so-far-achieved results from the programme clearly indicate that the new tracked vehicle platform will be a multi-purpose solution for all kinds of operational environments.”
A Patria spokesman told ESD at Eurosatory on 19 June that the new ATV has been designed with “super mobility” in all geographical environments, especially the Arctic, and was “developed against a need” – presumably that EU and NATO nations need the capability to confront Russian forces in the High North.
Patria has also stated of the vehicle that “attention is also being paid to its survivability, costs and modularity”.
According to Patria literature, the new tracked ATV has a gross vehicle weight of 15 tonnes, a payload of 3.5 tonnes and can carry a crew of two plus 10 troops. With an engine developing 250 kW, the vehicle has a top road speed of 80 km/h (plus an amphibious speed of 4 km/h), a range of 600 km, and can negotiate 60% gradients and gaps of 2 m.
“The FAMOUS programme is fully aligned with the European Commission’s goal to enhance the competitiveness and innovation capacity of the EU’s defence industry,” stated Mikko Karppinen, senior vice president for protected mobility and defence systems at Patria, in a 17 June company press release. “We are very proud to reveal this tracked armoured personnel carrier concept vehicle generated with the support of the FAMOUS programme. We have now proceeded to the concept testing stage and the performance of the future solution can be tested in practice.”
The FAMOUS programme was initiated in 2021 and, as well as Finland, involves Belgium, Denmark, Latvia, Germany, France, Estonia, Greece and Spain as well as 35 different companies. Under the initial EDIDP FAMOUS study and concept phase, the programme received EUR 9 million in funding from the EU, with the member states co-funding a total of EUR 0.9 million. As the programme went into the EDF FAMOUS2 development, prototyping and verification testing phase, the EU funded EUR 95 million of the effort, with the member states co-funding a total of EUR 19 million.
