Sweden commissions preliminary design work on its new CV90s

Sweden plans to procure 50 CV90s with 35 mm guns to replace the ones armed with 40 mm guns (pictured) it donated to Ukraine. (BAE Systems Hägglunds)

The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) and BAE Systems Hägglunds announced on 11 October that they had signed a pre-production contract on the preliminary design for the replacement of CV90 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) Sweden donated to Ukraine. The FMV gave a contract value of SEK36 million (USD3.3 million).

The contract is the first step in defining the configuration and programme schedule for the replacement of 50 CV9040 IFVs Sweden donated to Ukraine, with the aim of signing a CV9035 Mk IIIC production contract in early 2024.

Confirming that Sweden's new IFVs' main armament would be 35 mm rather than the 40 mm guns of its current CV90s, a defence source told Janes on 11 October, “The turret is based on the CV90 Netherlands MLU [mid-life upgrade] turret. The configuration will have many similarities but not all the subsystems onboard… It's also likely the new CV90s will have rubber tracks and a number of modern configurations coming from the CV90 development with other users.”

“The preliminary planning enables planning of future production and that orders can be placed for certain components and materiel with long lead times. The preparations for future production can thus be done in parallel with the final negotiations on the contract for new combat vehicles,” the FMV added.

Jonas Lotsne, director of Land Systems at FMV, added that the contract “paves the way for starting production as soon as we sign a final procurement agreement. It is a prerequisite for replacing materiel donated to Ukraine and regaining the ability of the army's war organisation as quickly as possible”.