New CV90s for Denmark, Sweden, and Ukraine

To expand and replenish their CV90 fleets, Denmark and Sweden have signed contracts valued at €2.5 billion ($2.6 billion) with BAE Systems for at least 165, which includes 115 for Denmark, 50 for Sweden and new build vehicles for Ukraine, according to a 6th December press release.

The vehicles will be built to the CV9035 Mk IIIC standard, which leverages the developments made in the mid-life upgrade for the Netherlands. Both Denmark and Sweden are existing operators of the CV90, but their procurements reflect the different states of each country’s defence forces. Denmark is equipping a new heavy armoured brigade of up to 6,000 soldiers that is expected to join NATO forces by 2028. To do this, the country has set aside €6.8 billion ($6.4 billion) in funding while extending mandatory conscription from four months to eleven. 

“There is no doubt that Russia hopes to be able to dictate Europe’s borders by force. The best thing we can do to deter their aggressive behavior is to continue our military support for Ukraine and accelerate the building of a stronger defense in Europe,” Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in March 2024. 

Sweden is understood to be replenishing the CV90s that it gifted to Ukraine, although the country did decide to reinstate conscription in 2017 and set the ambitious goal of significantly expanding its armed forces by 2020. This was in response to the increased threat posed by Russia in the wake of the 2014 war in Ukraine. 

Tech profile: CV9035 Mk IIIC

The CV90 is a well-built and designed platform, with arguably the best off-road performance of any western IFV. Credit: BAE Systems

The Danish and Swedish CV90s will come from the same production lot, built to the same standards. They employ the turret design from the CV90 mid-life upgrade for the Netherlands. They also share subsystems with the CV90 Mk IVs that will be manufactured for Slovakia, all of which is to say that these procurements should be working from common supply chains, which will help minimise friction that can come from building several different standards of vehicle. 

The vehicle itself is armed with the 35 mm Bushmaster III cannon, which replaces the 40 mm Bofors that originally armed Sweden’s CV90 fleet, however, it is the same standard of cannon used by the rest of the Danish fleet, as well as the upgraded Dutch CV90s and those used by Estonia. The dual feed cannon offers plenty of lethality for an infantry fighting vehicle including both armour piercing and high explosive rounds at rates up to 200 rounds per minute. The cannon is derived from the 25 mm M242 chain gun, which arms the Bradley M2 IFVs. There is a range of options available for IFV armaments, from the M242 through to the experimental XM913 firing a 50x228mm round. 

There is a healthy market of 35 mm ammunition, including the Armor Piercing/High Explosive/Incendiary (SAPHEI) from NAMMO, which can penetrate 40 mm of armour at 100 m, and offers considerable behind armour effects. There is also the ABM/KETF round from Rheinmetall, which is an air bursting munition that deploys a lethal cone of tungsten pellets slightly ahead of the target, it would be effective against personnel and light vehicles. 

Every choice must balance lethality per shot, with cost and the number of rounds that a vehicle can carry. The 35 mm and 30 mm rounds will tend to represent a balance of these factors while increasing the calibre increases the cost and lethality, typically reducing the number of rounds that can be carried. 

Calibre comment

The delivery timeframes are tight for these vehicles; BAE Hägglunds had 450 CV90s on its order book in June 2024. Since then, Lithuania has signalled its intent to add the vehicles to its arsenal, equipping another heavy armoured brigade with potentially 80 CV90s or more. In total, this may mean that Hägglunds has more than 600 CV90s to manufacture for a range of customers, many of whom want their vehicles before 2030, most also want some form of local production involved in the vehicles. Local production helps BAE to scale its business, so that is probably not an unwelcome development, but it also requires time and investment. The company has already invested €200 million in its facility in Sweden, with another €300 million on the horizon, according to Tommy Gustaffson-Rask, CEO of BAE Hägglunds. This will all take a lot of supply chain management and planning, especially for resources like armoured steel, which are likely pressured by the flood of orders that Europe’s defence industry received after 2022. A rough estimate indicates that European states have procured more than 1,600 armoured vehicles in 2024 alone – not to mention the large procurements placed since. 

However, the urgency is arguably warranted. Russia’s own defence industry is expanding and driving production up in a clear sign that the state is planning around continued tension and confrontation. Many of its key factories are building new facilities while refurbishing old ones in a bid first to meet the Russian needs in Ukraine, and secondly to replenish and reconstitute its armed forces. Estimates seem to vary over when Russia would be in a position to hold NATO’s borders at risk once more, but it is clear that the current trajectory of the war in Ukraine is not sustainable and that a negotiated settlement is on the horizon. It follows that Russia’s armed forces will soon have a lot more time and resources to pour into their reconstitution, so NATO must be ready. Fortunately, between Denmark, Lithuania, and Latvia alone there will be three new heavy armoured brigades in Europe by 2030 – providing that BAE, KNDS, and General Dynamics can meet their production deadlines.