On Wednesday, September 17, 2025, British company BAE Systems announced the start of deliveries of armored Arctic BvS10 (BandvagnS10) all-terrain vehicles to the armed forces of Sweden, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The presentation of the first three vehicles, symbolically one for each recipient country, took place at BAE Systems Hägglunds’ facilities in Sweden.
Photos: BAE Systems
On December 16, 2022, the ministries of defense of the three countries placed a joint order under the CATV (Collaborative All-Terrain Vehicle) program valued at 760 million USD for the delivery of 436 BvS10 vehicles. Earlier, on May 2, 2021, Sweden purchased 127 of these vehicles and later ordered an additional 40 under an option.
“The extreme mobility capabilities offered by the BvS10, and the multiple uses that it enables, provides the user nations with a reliable, high tech and modern capability that is instantly ready for missions in the harshest environments,” said Tommy Gustafsson-Rask, managing director of BAE Systems Hägglunds. “And because of the streamlined procurement model, nations will easily be able to join seamlessly and receive the advanced capabilities the BvS10 provides.”
The vehicles are based on the latest BvS10 variant currently operated by Sweden and include variants configured for troop transport, logistics, medical evacuation, casualty evacuation, and command and control. They are the first of 663 vehicles procured under a groundbreaking framework agreement that sets a new standard for joint procurement. Under separate purchase contracts concluded under the same framework agreement, 236 BvS10s will be delivered to Sweden, 60 to the United Kingdom, and 140 to Germany by 2028. Under the same deal, Germany has contracted an additional 227 BvS10 vehicles.
BvS10s are currently in use by Austria, France, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom; they have also been supplied to Ukraine and are currently being offered to Italy. A subcontractor in the program is Czech Tatra Defense Vehicle (part of the Czechoslovak Group holding).
The two-section articulated tracked vehicle, BvS10, has a weight of 8.5 t (the first section weighing 5 t and the second 3.5 t) and is capable of transporting 12 personnel. The vehicle measures 7.6 m in length, 2.34 m in width, and 2.2 m in height. Propulsion is provided by a 6-cylinder, 5.9-liter Cummins turbocharged diesel engine rated at 275 hp, which allows speeds of up to 70 km/h on paved roads and 5 km/h in water.
In September 2019, at the DSEI exhibition in London, BAE Systems unveiled a new version of the vehicle that gives the crew improved situational awareness and enables much faster information exchange through the Generic Vehicle Architecture (GVA) electronic architecture system, compliant with NATO standards. This is the variant ordered by the three countries.
Standardizing multiple user interfaces to create an integrated system will shorten crew training times. The GVA architecture design will ensure interoperability across all vehicles, enabling rapid and cost-effective technology upgrades while significantly reducing the system’s life-cycle costs.
The flexibility of GVA mission systems will allow them to be adapted to specific customer requirements and effectively integrated with the host vehicle. Equipped with multiple cameras and featuring displays in the front and rear of the crew compartment, the new BvS10 offers enhanced situational awareness and improved communication capabilities. It will also help reduce crew workload by streamlining the flow of information.
In previous years, BAE Systems displayed prototypes of second-generation BvS10 transporters (Mk II) at DSEI 2009 and an unarmored vehicle based on its design, Beowulf, at DSEI 2015. The latter won the U.S. CATV (Cold Weather All-Terrain Vehicle) program for delivery of 110 vehicles with an option for 163 more for the U.S. Army, as successors to the M973 SUSV (Small Unit Support Vehicle) derived from the Bv206, which entered service in the early 1980s.
3 nations – one agreement. The BvS10 Collaborative All-Terrain Vehicle (CATV) program provides the Armies of Sweden 🇸🇪, Germany 🇩🇪, and the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 with unrivalled mobility. Now the first 3 BvS10 vehicles have rolled off the production line.
👉https://t.co/hNxZRXq9t3 pic.twitter.com/3aISvRNZio— BAE Systems Hägglunds (@BAESHagglunds) September 17, 2025
