Update: Finland orders more Sisu GTP 4×4 off-road vehicles

Finland has ordered 13 more Sisu GTP 4×4 off-road vehicles in addition to the 31 it is already procuring. (Sisu Auto)

Finnish Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen has authorised the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) to order 13 more Sisu GTP 4×4 off-road vehicles worth EUR9.7 million (USD10.6 million), the defence ministry announced in a press release on 27 December.

This is in addition to the 31 Sisu GTPs sold to the FDF in 2020 and 2022. The FDF signed a contract with Sisu Auto in June 2020 for six GTP 4×4 vehicles for trials to assess mobility requirements, for which Sisu Auto supplied three vehicles in the five-seat general purpose vehicle (GPV) configuration and three 10-seat GTP armoured personnel vehicles (APCs). The two configurations have a common drive line and modular hull, enabling the vehicles to be altered for different missions, such as patrol, squad, and command vehicle. A third configuration with a specially extended medevac body structure can fit four stretchers in the back.

Following a contract signed at the end of 2022, serial production and delivery of 25 GTP APCs to the FDF began, Jyri Ahonen, Sisu Auto's vice-president, military vehicles, told Janes on 7 November 2023. He said on 3 January 2024 that the batch of 13 additional vehicles ordered would be delivered as a continuation of the delivery of the 25 vehicles ordered earlier.

A Finnish Ministry of Defence spokesperson told Janes on 8 January that the 25 GTPs ordered in 2022 were delivered in 2023 and that the 13 additional vehicles ordered would be delivered in 2024. Nine of the 13 additional GTPs will be APC versions and four will be general purpose variants, he added.