Prototype of Slovak Patria AMV 8x8 armored fitted with 30mm turret.

Slovak Defense Industry unveils a prototype of the Patria AMV 8x8 armoured vehicle that will be delivered to the Slovak army, during the 2017 Industrial Day at the Záhorie Military Technical and Testing Institute on December 6, 2017 in Slovakia. The Slovak Patria AMV is fitted with a Slovak-made EVPU turret armed with one 30mm automatic cannon and anti-tank guided misssile launchers. 

The Slovak Patria AMV fitted with a Slovak-made 30mm cannon turret at the the 2017 Industrial Day at the Záhorie Military Technical and Testing Institute (Picture source The Slovak Spectator website TASR)

In May 2017, the Slovak government approved a request from the Slovak Ministry of Defense for the €1.2 billion procurement of 404 4x4 and 81 8x8 armoured vehicles. The first delivery of the vehicles could be started in 2018 and be completed in 2029.

In November 2017, Slovak and Finnish Defense Ministries have signed a memorandum about the purchase of Patria AMV 8x8 armoured vehicles for the army of Slovakia. The first three 8x8 armoured vehicles should be manufactured by the Finnish and the second batch of three vehicles in Slovakia, according to the Slovak Defence Ministry's Service Office general secretary Jan Holko.

The Slovak Defense Minister has confirmed that the Defence Ministry expects 70 percent of the vehicle’s components to be produced in Slovakia.

The prototype of the Slovak Patria AMV is very similar to the Finnish version of the vehicle but one of the most important feature is the use of a new TURRA 30 unmanned turret armed with one 30mm cannon and anti-tank guided missile, designed and manufactured in Slovakia by the Company EVPU.

Close view of the EVPU turret armed with one 30mm automatic cannon and anti-tank guided missile launchers mounted on Slovak Patria AMV (Picture source The Slovak Spectator website TASR)

In May 2015 during the defense exhibition IDET in Czech Republic, Polish and Slovakian defense industries presented a new 8x8 armoured vehicle called Scipio using the 8x8 chassis of Rosomak armoured vehicle and the Turra 30 remote controlled weapon station designed and manufactured by ZPU. The Roosmak is a Polish-made version of the Patria AMV produced under license in Poland.

The main armament of the EVPU's Turra 30 turret consists of one 30 mm main armament. Both Russian 2A42 30 mm gun or American Mk 44 Bushmaster II 30 mm gun, manufactured by American Company Orbital ATK, can be used as main armament. Secondary armament consists of one PKT 7.62 mm or FN Minimi 7.62 mm machine guns. The Turra 30 can also be fitted with Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM), such as the Konkurs and the Spike.

The 9M113 Konkurs is a SACLOS wire-guided anti-tank missile developed by Russia's Tula Machinery Design Bureau (Tula KBP). The Spike is an Israeli fourth generation man-portable fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile and anti-personnel missile with a tandem-charged HEAT warhead, developed and designed by the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and in service with a number of nations.