Slovenia chooses Patria for major APC purchase

Slovenia is planning to purchase 106 armoured personnel vehicles for an estimated €700 million from Finnish defence company Patria over the next six years to form two battlegroups. It has now signed a letter of intent on the project, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.

The eight-wheeled vehicles will be acquired on a government-to-government basis. The Finnish Defence Ministry will provide the support under the document signed by the countries' defence ministers on the sidelines of NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels,

The framework agreement "defines the cooperation between the two ministries and the factory that produces these defence vehicles", Defence Minister Borut Sajovic said.

"This allows for a lot of clarity, comparability and transparency," he added, in a reference to the defence corruption scandal involving Patria that erupted nearly two decades ago.

The government previously said that signing the letter of intent would not entail any financial or legally binding obligations.

First 53 vehicles to be bought by 2028

The purchase will be carried out in two stages. First, 53 vehicles will be bought to equip a medium-sized reconnaissance battalion in the period from 2025 to 2028. Another 53 vehicles will be purchased for a medium-sized battlegroup in the period between 2027 and 2030.

Sajovic said that Slovenia was buying "fully operational" vehicles. This means they should have all the necessary equipment.

Patria was picked as supplier after the Robert Golob government withdrew from the purchase of Boxer armoured personnel carriers in autumn 2022, arguing it was wasteful. The €350 million agreement to purchase 45 Boxers under the OCCAR programme was made in the final days of the Janez Janša government in 2022.

New Slovenia, the party of Matej Tonin, the former defence minister who signed the Boxer deal, has been complaining about a lack of transparency in the planned Patria deal, expressing fear that Slovenia will "pay more to get less" compared to the Boxer deal.

But Minister Sajovic has said he expects €400 million in savings because of the change of supplier.

Defence spending target unchanged

Commenting on calls by the US for defence spending by NATO members to reach 5% of GDP, Sajovic said Slovenia must first "stick to what has already been agreed, and then ... make an effort and show whether and how much more it can contribute".

Slovenia is planning to reach the target defence spending of 2% of GDP by 2030. This year it is projected to reach 1.5% of GDP and 1.6% in 2026.

Patria scandal

Slovenia already has Patria armoured vehicles, acquired after a Slovenian company representing the Finnish company won a tender in 2006. The deal has been keeping the Slovenian political scene and courts busy until this day.

The three-time prime minister Janez Janša, along with two co-defendants, was convicted in 2013 for allegedly accepting a promise of a bribe in relation to the deal. He spent 145 days in prison before the Constitutional Court quashed the conviction in 2015. The case became statute barred later that year.

Janša recently received almost €44,000 in compensation under a partial court decision in his €900,000 damages suit against the state. He has been alleging the scandal was orchestrated by his political opponents. The two co-defendants have also been paid damages for the time they spent in jail.

Under the 2006 deal, Patria was to supply 135 vehicles for €278 million but under a renegotiated deal, Slovenia only acquired thirty.