Surge in Finnish armour sales
Iltalehti looks at the huge, ten-fold leap in the domestic production of armoured vehicles by the Finnish state-owned defence and technology group Patria in just the past two years.
In addition to those being manufactured in Finland, large numbers of vehicles have been ordered for production under license abroad.
In April, the Swedish Defense Forces ordered 20 of Patria’s 6x6 armoured personnel transport vehicles. The first of these have already been delivered and the Swedish Defence Forces have stated that it will have a future need for hundreds of new vehicles.
Latvia ordered more than 200 of the same Patria 6x6 armoured personnel carriers in 2021.
Among the other orders noted by Iltalehti is a major deal announced just before last Christmas when Japan decided on Patria’s AMV XP 8x8 multi-role military vehicle as its next personnel carrier. According to media reports, Patria’s AMV will replace approximately 400 older vehicles in Japan.
Patria has more than 3,000 employees across locations in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Estonia, Latvia and Spain.
https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1729195573079871753
One to keep an eye on: Venezuela plans to hold a referendum on December 3 to legitimise its demand to annex 2/3 of neighbouring Guyana. Maduro seems to have learned rather too well from his ally Vladimir Putin. The thread below provides a good explainer.
Satellite photos show how the US Air Force is reclaiming a WWII-era airfield from the jungle to prepare to dodge Chinese missiles
On the one hand, that’s terrifying. On the other, the amount of bullshit spewed from Putin’s mouthpieces is an existential threat to flood western Europe knee deep in crud.
re: German opposition
Gee 'ya think maybe Turkey sharing intel and manufacturing specs with Russia might have something to do with that.
‘Russia has started rebuilding its capabilities and this threatens our region’ – NATO general
