Patria, the Finish defense company, introduced this week a new eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicle with extra payload, protection and performance.

The vehicle, spotlighted by the company at an international defense exhibition in France, is designated the AMVXP, which has been fine-tuned and tested since an XP concept design vehicle debuted last autumn.

"Patria AMVXP further strengthens Patria's leading armored wheeled-vehicle product offering," said Mika Kari, president of Patria Land business unit. "Its extensive and extreme testing phase has verified the vehicle's state of the art qualities.

"We have succeeded in developing a top-notch vehicle. By developing the new vehicle Patria provides the best solutions to match the customer needs of tomorrow."

The AMCXP features an upgraded powerline, which provides 450 kW engine with an integrated terrain control system. Details on other special features were not provided by the company.

Patria said, however, that the XP will come in a number of variants and allow for simultaneous integration of weapon systems, protection and crew equipment.

Canada buys riot control vehicles from Streit
Paris (UPI) Jun 20, 2013 - Hundreds of special purpose vehicles for riot control use are being built and delivered to North Africa by the Streit Group.

Streit Group, which is headquartered in Canada, said 480 vehicles are being built under a single contract and will be manufactured by its Ras Al Khaimah factory in the United Arab Emirates.

The identity of the customer and the value of the contract -- the largest single award in company history -- were not disclosed. Deliveries of the vehicles begin next year.

"This is a very exciting time for Streit Group," said its chief executive, Guerman Goutorov. "We are set to achieve treble-digit growth, both through new contract awards and through new commercial and armored personnel carrier lines.

"The need for riot control and urban response units, both armored and unarmored, has grown significantly in the Middle East and Africa in the last few years. Streit is ideally placed to meet this need, thanks to our manufacturing capacity, third-party technology alliances and R&D expertise."