Patria 6×6 Armoured Personnel Carriers (Pansarterrängbil 300) will roll into Kungsängen’s garrison. Pansarterrängbil 300 will be delivered from August onwards – now the Swedish Army’s Life Guards Regiment (Swedish: Livgardet, designation LG) is preparing for the first delivery. The Life Guards Regiment is a combined Swedish Army cavalry/infantry regiment. Its responsibilities include the defence of Stockholm as well as provision of the royal guard of honour for the King of Sweden and the Stockholm Palace. It was established in its present form in July 2000, following a merger of the Svea Life Guards and the Life Guard Dragoons. Headquarters are mainly located in Brunna north of Kungsängen in Upplands-Bro Municipality and at the “Cavalry Barracks 1” in central Stockholm.
The Swedish Army is growing and in the defense of Sweden, armored personnel carriers must transport many of the soldiers who defend the land surface from the ground. New armored all-terrain vehicles are to further increase the army’s capabilities, and in the defense of Stockholm, the new Pansarterrangbil 300 is an important part. Therefore, the Lifeguard will be assigned a larger number of the vehicle in the next few years – the first ones will already arrive after the summer. The Swedish Army’s Life Guards Regiment is already preparing to receive the vehicles. Several officers have undergone both technical training and driver training at the Finnish manufacturer Patria.
The Patria 6×6 (Patria XA-300) is a six-wheeled armoured personnel carrier produced by the Finnish defence industry company Patria. Patria 6×6 chassis is based on Patria AMVXP structures and components. The expected service life of the vehicle is more than 30 years. Patria 6×6 is primarily designed for troop transport but can be configured for other roles as well. The basic platform can be tailored to meet varying user requirements by many optional features e.g. swimming system, winch, upgraded armour protection and diverse weapon systems. Available weapons range from machine gun up to 25/30 mm medium calibre direct fire weapon systems and Patria Nemo 120 mm turreted mortar system.
In early 2020 Finland and Latvia agreed a joint development programme for Common Armoured Vehicle Systems (CAVS) based on Patria 6×6. The programme remains open for other nations to join it. In 2022, Sweden, Estonia and Germany joined the CAVS Programme. Sweden Joined the R&D phase of the program in June 2022. With the first order for its army in 2023, the local designation was revealed, “Pansarterrängbil 300”. 20 vehicles ordered in April 2023 for the Lifeguard Regiment, with a delivery after the summer 2023. 400 additional vehicles are planned to be ordered soon, and deliveries are expected to start by the end of 2024. The Patria 6×6 will equip: Artillery troops, Engineering and Anti-aircraft units.
