CATV contract is to be signed this year

Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK will sign a contract to purchase 500-900 vehicles under the Collaborative All-Terrain Vehicle (CATV) programme with deliveries starting in 2023, as the four militaries seek to enhance their Arctic capabilities.

Sweden, as the lead nation and Central Purchasing Body, issued an invitation to tender (ITT) to BAE Systems Hägglunds in December 2021 to acquire a platform based on the latest version of the BvS10.

A company spokesperson confirmed that BAE Systems Hägglunds is now working on preparing a response to the ITT.

Related Articles

Indian defence budget focuses on technology at home

‘The intended contract is a framework agreement with the possibility for participating nations to procure BvS10 vehicles in accordance with the scope to be agreed,’ the BAE Systems Hägglunds official noted.

The CATV will be built around the BvS10 configuration for Sweden with adaptations to meet other nations' specific requirements and enable the integration of national equipment.

Vehicle variants are the preliminary versions already operational in Sweden; troop carrier, C2, ambulance and logistics (on an ISO-standard flatbed). The logistics version would also be used in other roles based on national needs.

BvS10 is an all-terrain, fully amphibious, transportable on land, sea and air vehicle which carries up to 12 personnel. As a warfare-capable system, it is deployable in extreme conditions, such as snow and mud and can operate in an ambient temperature range from -46°C to +49°C.

Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK signed the CATV MoU in 2019 with the intention of sharing acquisition costs associated with the acquisition of a new tracked platform.

Preliminary variants of the Collaborative All-Terrain Vehicle are already operational in Sweden. (Photo: FMV)

The cross-border collaboration was also intended to secure greater commonality at reduced costs, as well as to deliver economies of scale in production and offer flexibility and interoperability.

The Swedish government in May 2020 authorised the Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) to make preparations and negotiate its participation with agencies in the Netherlands, Germany and UK.

In June 2020, the UK and Germany signed a joint procurement agreement. Also in 2020, the first project arrangement for this joint effort was firmed, and the four countries harmonised user requirements.

An FMV official explained that Sweden has already 150 BvS10 (called Bv410 in the country) equipping its armed forces and additional 127 contractually committed (under an award in 2021), and ‘the aim of the CATV programme is to continue the same production line’.

The nation is interested in procuring 200 platforms in the same variants Swedish Armed Forces already is equipped with.

Sweden will not retire its in-service could weather platforms, and the new vehicles will be an additional capacity to its ground fleet. In a parallel programme, the country will also upgrade the Bv206S fleet for its continued use by Home Guard units.

As the FMV spokesperson explained, the CATV forms part of a broader effort in Sweden ‘to make the army larger and stronger’.

The Netherlands will retire its Bv206 fleet. (Photo: Dutch MoD)

The UK and Germany aim to acquire the new platform to replace their in-service Bv206S vehicles, while the Netherlands is phasing out its Bv206 and BvS10 Vikings.

‘We rely on the expertise of the Swedish FMV to obtain such a vehicle,’ said a Dutch MoD spokesperson.

In September 2020, the Netherlands announced its intention to acquire 124 new tracked vehicles for the Marine Corps.

At that time, the Dutch MoD noted that the procurement process would cost from €100 million to €250 million ($116 million to $292 million) with the option to purchase additional platforms.

The German and the UK MoDs did not disclose details about the cost of the programme when asked by Shephard.

The UK joined the CATV with the goal to equip the Royal Marines with a generic vehicle architecture that can ensure connectivity and ease of enhancement through life.

In the case of Germany, the country seeks a robust and sustainable high-mobility platform for various functions such as troop transport, materiel transport, reconnaissance and engineering.

The country aims to procure an initial 140 vehicles under the CATV agreement to enter service with the Mountain Infantry Brigade 23.