Defence ministers sign letter of intent for Patria armoured vehicles
Brussels, 13 February - Defence Minister Borut Sajovic has signed a letter of intent with his Finnish counterpart Antti Hakkanen based on which the Finnish Defence Ministry will provide support to Slovenia in a planned purchase of eight-wheeled armoured vehicles from the Finnish company Patria. The document was signed on Thursday in Brussels.
Kočevje
Patria armoured modular vehicle.
Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA
File photo
Today's framework agreement "defines the cooperation between the two ministries and the factory that produces these defence vehicles", said Sajovic.
"This allows for a lot of clarity, comparability and transparency," he said after signing the letter of intent.
The ministry will carry out the purchase, estimated at around EUR 700 million, in two stages, he explained.
In the first stage, 53 Patria eight-wheeled armoured vehicles will be purchased to equip a medium-sized reconnaissance battalion in the period from 2025 to 2028.
In the second stage, another 53 eight-wheeled armoured vehicles will be purchased for a medium-sized battlegroup in the period from 2027 to 2030.
Sajovic said that Slovenia is buying "fully operational" vehicles. This means they should have all the necessary equipment.
Sajovic and Hakkanen signed the letter of intend a week after the Slovenian government was briefed on the plan to sign it while it made a decision at the end of January to continue the process to purchase eight-wheeled armoured vehicles from Patria.
Slovenia is buying the Patrias after the Robert Golob government withdrew in the autumn of 2022 from the purchase of Boxer armoured personnel carriers, arguing it was wasteful.
The EUR 350 million agreement to purchase 45 Boxers under the OCCAR programme was made in the final days of the Janez Janša government in 2022.