The star of Patria’s Arctic Event 2025 was without any doubt the FAMOUS, the light armoured tracked vehicle, the concept vehicle of which was demonstrated at Eurosatory 2024 for the first time, and which prototype was rolled out in late February 2025 just in time for the annual winter event organised by the Finnish defence company. Patria is coordinating the European Future Highly Mobile Augmented Armoured Systems (FAMOUS) programme that includes in its current phase 35 companies from nine including Finland, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, and Spain
Although the winter has been relatively mild, the Rovajärvi range was covered with deep snow, the natural habitat for a vehicle like the one issued from the FAMOUS programme. EDR On-Line understood that now the 24-months projects part of the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) 2020 is concluded, the various companies part of the team are free to exploit what has emerged in the two years of common work. And to this end Patria, as the main player, is now continuing the development of the vehicle with the aim of adding it to its portfolio, the only tracked vehicle among numerous wheeled “cousins”.
“We hope that the FAMOUS tracked vehicle that is being developed will hopefully become our next breakthrough product,” Jukka Holkeri, Executive Vice President of Global Division at Patria told EDR On-Line. “There is an obvious need for this type of mobility, especially in areas such as Lapland, where we are now at Patria’s Arctic Event,” he continued, adding that such mobility might be needed also in different countries. “We must also consider that in Europe a considerable number of tracked vehicles needs to be replaced, starting from the M113,” Mr. Holkeri said, underlining that in many countries also Soviet/Russian MTLBs need retirement.
“The MTLB is much lower than the M113, and is therefore much harder to detect, and with the FAMOUS we are in between in terms of height, but with an ergonomy that is definitely better than that of the MLTLB.” The increased interest in the Arctic region might well make the FAMOUS the new breakthrough product that Mr. Holkeri wishes. And this will soon have a name, that will probably be unveiled during the official launch that is planned to take place next September at DSEI, EDR On-Line understanding that an internal contest within the company is going on to select that name.
“In fact, the one we have in front of us is far more than a prototype, although I will not reveal a TRL figure” Timo Mennala, Programme Director FAMOUS at Patria told EDR On-Line while touring the vehicle at the end of the demonstration, which saw the new vehicle operating alongside numerous other product of the Finnish company.
In Paris the only figures provided were the gross vehicle mass, 15 tonnes, and the payload, 3.5 tonnes. Now that the vehicle is about to become a product, more data are available. The light armoured tracked vehicle is 7.2 metres long, 2.9 metres wide and 2 metres high at the roof, with a 0.5 metres ground clearance (important both for mine protection as well as for mobility on snowy and muddy terrain). The actual engine power is higher than that declared in Paris, 269 versus 250 (360 vs 335 hp), the Caterpillar 7 litres 6 cylinders being coupled to a Renk transmission. “Speed requirement was 80 km/h, however we have already reached 88 km/h in good traction conditions,” Mr. Mennala stated.
Many people pretend that there is a commonality between wheeled vehicles and the new all terrain vehicle in terms of chassis; “This is wrong,” Mr. Mennala said, “as in our 6×6 we have a hull mounted on a separate subframe, while here we have the typical tracked vehicle chassis. However, the basic structural lay-out is similar to Patria’s wheeled vehicles.”
The automotive elements are key for mobility; the Patria New Tracked Vehicle is now fitted with Soucy rubber tracks, however other solutions are also under development. Its suspensions (that were hidden in Paris) being now described in detail; “We have tested the adopted suspension and track solution for a couple of years,” Mr. Mennala explained, “and at the time of Eurosatory we still had some test and evaluations ongoing. Every wheel is autonomously suspended thanks to a hydrogas damper and a knee axle coming from the hull. The reason for adopting this solution rather than the classical torsion bars is that allow us to save weight and to have a greater ground clearance. It also makes it possible to adjust the suspensions, optimising it to match the terrain on which the vehicle operates,” Mr. Mennala detailed.
Following the Arctic Event the vehicle, which in the first few weeks of existence logged around 300 km, will remain two weeks in Rovajärvi for further deep snow testing. “As soon as the event will be over, we will start our joint tests with the Finnish Defence Forces, and we plan having the second vehicle available next autumn,” the programme manager said, adding that a third vehicle will also be produced, minor changing being possible based on trials results, Patria being however confident that the maturity reached during the FAMOUS development phase should reduce those to a minimum, EDR On-Line understood. Discussions are ongoing on which type of armament should be installed, the first vehicle seen at the event being fitted with a motorised ringmount provided by SIMA Innovation of Denmark fitted with a Gunner Protection Kit (GPK) and armed with a KNDS France M621 20 mm cannon.
Born to operate on soft ground, trials will proceed on muddy soil as soon as the snow will melt, one of the worst-case situations, ground pressure is obviously an issue for such a platform. “At maximum combat weight we have a specific ground pressure of around 32 kilopascal. However, doing tests with our mobility demonstrators, we have learned that this is not the only thing that matters when operating on soft soil, two other key things being the centre of gravity and the approach angle. Last autumn we have done a lot of tests in a swamp, and we found that the best vehicle attitude is to have the front slightly raised. The nice thing is that this works also when you are reversing. For example, we drove through the very soft swamp over 10 times driving on our tracks, something you are taught not to do, and results were very encouraging. To make sure we have a clean track we added a scraper at the front, close to the sprocket, that takes away most of the snow, mud, or gravel,” Mr. Mennala detailed.
Asked about why the outcome of the FAMOUS programmes is ahead of other types of all terrain vehicles, the programme manager stated that the EDIDP programme allowed putting together the best practices and best features from two totally different kind of vehicle, articulated four-tracks and traditional two-track vehicles, without detailing further. “The vehicle itself is rather simple, that was our philosophy in order to ensure good durability and produce a cost-effective vehicles.”
As usual no photos were allowed of the inside, however we could see that the driver has a full glass cockpit derived from that adopted on Patria’s wheeled armoured vehicles, and he has a good front and side view thanks to the generous one-piece full width windscreen and the inclined small lateral window.
Various types of ringmounts and RCWS are being considered, as well as heavier systems: “We consider we will be able to fit the vehicle with the NEMO mortar turret,” Mr. Mennala told us, the Patria turreted 120 mm mortar having a mass around 1.2 tonnes, depending on configuration. Inside space will probably be an issue, the system installed on the Patria 6×6 allowing a two-man mortar crew and 40 rounds, the space in the FAMOUS being in the same class but slightly lesser.
As said initially, the vehicle has a payload of around 3.5 tonnes. “This vehicle was not born to become an infantry fighting vehicle,” the programme manager clarifies, “We are targeting an armoured personnel carrier that can be equipped with a 12.7 mm machine gun, either in a ringmount as the one we have here, or in a remotely controlled weapon station. Payload would however allow us to increase protection from the basic Level 1 up to Level 2, but this remains an option we can offer, not the standard issue,” he underlines. Considering mass involved, RCWS armed with 30×113 mm cannons might well be considered.
Next update in less than six months, when we finally will know the vehicle name, and we will try to provide you with the outcome of the first half-year of testing.
Photos by P. Valpolini