Patria Pasi XA

Patria Pasi XA History

Over the past few decades or so, the world's modern militaries have undergone a major shift away from expensive and complex tracked vehicles to more traditional wheeled armored vehicles. This helps to differentiate the engineering prowess of other countries, as was the case with Finland's "Patria Pasi XA", a 6x6 wheeled armoured vehicle for armoured personnel carriers (APCs).

The Pasi XA (originally known as "Sisu Pasi") is the Finnish Army's requirement for a modern APC that has inherent amphibious qualities. It has since been exported and used by Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Ghana, Ireland, and taken over by the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Nations.

The core design of the Pasi XA features a 6x6 wheel arrangement with three large, well-spaced wheels mounted on each side of the hull. Ground clearance is unusually high, which aids off-road driving.

The cab is located at the front of the fuselage and includes a chunky bulletproof windshield and automotive-style hinged side access doors. All window sections have hinged armor panels that can be raised for additional armor protection in theaters. Two rows of four smoke grenade launchers are mounted on the foremost corners of the hull, allowing the crew to protect their movements with a self-generated smoke screen. The vehicle's various armor plates feature a slight slope to provide ballistic protection from small arms fire and shrapnel. As the cab was moved forward, the power pack was centralized, which opened up the fighting compartment in the rear of the fuselage to accommodate the passengers.

The fuselage roofline is dotted with various crew and passenger access hatches. The sides of the hull wall of the vehicle were fitted with sight blocks for passengers, as well as muzzles for engaging the enemy from the safety of the protected hull. A pair of water jets are installed low along the rear surface of the fuselage to provide the necessary propulsion for the aircraft from a water source.

On the most critical fairings, the armor protection reaches 10mm thick. A typical operator consists of two people (driver and commander) and can accommodate up to 16 passengers.

The Pasi XA started in pilot form as the XA-180, with the first examples introduced in 1980. The car was designed by Sisu Auto and its original name was Sisu Pasi. The XA-180 design, which competed with two other competitors, won the Finnish Army's trials, which lasted until 1983, and led to an initial series order of 50 vehicles by the end of the year.

Founded in Helsinki in 1931, Sisu Auto focused on manufacturing heavy-duty vehicles and other automotive products, and lent its name to the early Pasi vehicle form until Patria Oyj took over when later orders arrived - making the more familiar The name "Patria Passi". The product line was then officially called "Patria Pasi XA", and foreign launch customers became Estonia, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

Five notable production variants of the Pasi XA have been released. The XA-180 was the original APC product, while the XA-185 was in an improved form with a new transmission and engine. The XA-186 (same landing gear as the XA-185) gained additional armor and a heavy machine gun turret, but the increased weight forced it to give up amphibious capabilities. XA-188 Designated vehicle in service with the Dutch Army.

The XA-200 received an updated armor protection scheme, support for night vision equipment and improved situational awareness, but also lost amphibious capabilities. Related models of the brand became the XA-202 Command and Communications (CC2) vehicle and the XA-203 APC, the latter being used by the Finnish Army as a temporary solution for the outgoing XA-185 - the vehicle was replaced by the new Patria with an 8x8 AMV (Armored Modular) replacement vehicle for wheels) APC.

Since its introduction in 1984, Patria vehicles have used two different engine types - the XA-180 model has a 236hp Valmet 611 DSBJA diesel, while the XA-200 model has a Valmet 612 DWIBIC series-Turbo engine followed by 271 hp. Depending on the installation, the Patria Pasi can reach a top speed of over 100 km/h and have a range of up to 900 km.

Powering all six wheels, the suspension is parabolic leaf springs with hydraulic shock absorbers.

Patria Pasi is designed to support light weapons used on the battlefield, supporting weapon types such as 7.62mm medium machine gun, 12.7mm heavy machine gun and 20mm automatic cannon through an optional rotating turret mount on top of the fuselage. A typical weapon is a Door heavy 12.7mm machine guns, as well as any personal weapons carried by passengers, are fired through the muzzle of the fighting compartment.

In practice, the Patria Pasi XA has proven to be a successful product due to its ease of use and versatility. Light armor protection and light armor support have made the Pasi XA widely used in peacekeeping operations with the United Nations, demonstrating excellent on- and off-road capability, mine resistance and general suitability. For some of these reasons, police forces also employ this type.

Pasi XA has conducted combat operations in war-torn environments in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Balkans and elsewhere.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Performance

Armor

1,000 x 12.7mm ammo.

8 x Smoke Grenade.

Changes