Lithuania’s Ministry of National Defense reported that the country’s state defense council approved plans to purchase 100 Swedish CV90 MkIV infantry fighting vehicles for the Lithuanian military at once, with important points of this agreement being reliability of fulfilling supply obligations and implementation of industrial cooperation considering the strategic capability of this program.
The likely cost of purchasing a hundred vehicles is not reported. A firm contract for supply of infantry fighting vehicles is to be concluded at the beginning of next year, and deliveries of first vehicles will start in 2028.
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CV90MkIV / Photo credit: BAE Systems Hägglunds
And this story is another example of how sometimes countries transition from plans to concrete actions and contract conclusion not very quickly. Because Lithuania, which has a common border with russia, from 2022 began actively arming its military, while providing defense assistance to Ukraine, and plans to purchase CV90 IFVs became known more than a year ago, in October 2024.
But it should be understood that modern weapons are not cheap, while Lithuania, for example, in 2024…
Therefore, the question was relevant for the country how can one buy the same for less money, and a solution emerged in summer this year, when five more European countries together with Lithuania (namely Sweden, Finland, Norway, Netherlands and Estonia) signed an agreement of intent to make joint procurement of CV90 IFVs a large-scale order should affect reduction of cost per vehicle within the deal.
Later in September it became known that within the framework of agreements, the specification approval process is at the final stage and that a firm contract should be signed in June 2026 given the announcement from Lithuania’s defense ministry, probably the parties managed to agree to sign the contract much faster. If they actually sign it at the beginning of next year, of course.
CV9040C IFV in service with 21st Separate Mechanized Brigade of Armed Forces of Ukraine / Open source photo
As of today, it’s of course difficult to assess what the cost of a bare IFV in the newest CV90 MkIV version might be, but several years ago under various contracts, the rough cost could fluctuate at the level of $10-12 million. And a hundred vehicles could potentially cost over a billion euros considering all additional expenses.
Defense Express previously reported on how quickly Ukraine can receive more CV90 IFVs if Denmark buys new ones instead of modernizing 44 old ones.
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