Sweden has decided not to proceed with the development of the next-generation SEP family of armored combat vehicles. The decision to cancel the program was announced yesterday by armed forces procurement chief Leif Nylander.
The SEP vehicle concept has been under development at Sweden's BAE Systems-owned Hagglunds military vehicles company since 1994, with various concept and technology studies.
Both wheeled and tracked SEP prototypes have been built so far. This is the 8 x 8 armored wheeled vehicle variant. Photo: BAE Systems The first stage of the development started in mid-2006, but the Swedish armed forces -- faced with significant budget cuts -- have now decided there is not sufficient funding to move into the next stage.
According to Nylander, one of the main reasons for this is that neither Sweden nor BAE Systems have managed to find an international partner for the program, with whom Sweden could have shared the development cost.
Tracked SEP variant. Photo: BAE Systems Last year, the BAE Systems-proposed SEP (the 8 x 8 wheeled variant) was unexpectedly not selected by the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) for its shortlist to meet a requirement for new armored utility vehicles as part of the British army's FRES program.
The SEP proposal lost out against offers based on the General Dynamics UK/Mowag Piranha V (Switzerland/UK), Nexter VBCI (France), and Artec's Boxer (Germany/Netherlands).
SEP 8 x 8 and tracked variants together. Photo: BAE SystemsThe Swedish armed forces had planned for the SEP to result in a common vehicle platform that would have filled a wide variety of roles.
SEP is an acronym for Splitterskyddad EnhetsPlattform, that's Swedish for armor-protected common platform.
So far, Sweden has spent 950 million kronor on the program, for which a total of four prototype vehicles have been built.
"The armed forces will now look into their needs and requirements regarding vehicles, and that could end up with Sweden's defense material administration FMV buying vehicles off the shelf," an FMV spokesman says today.
Likely candidates could be the same vehicles that are now competing for the FRES requirement in Britain, plus Finland's Patria AMV and perhaps others as well, such as vehicles developed as part of Germany's GFF program for a wide range of new army vehicles.
The cancellation of the SEP development is seen as a blow to BAE Systems and its Hagglunds operation. For the time being, Hagglunds's order books are reasonably full thanks to orders for CV9035 Mk III infantry fighting vehicles and BvS 10 armored all-terrain vehicles, but the SEP was the company's ticket to secure orders for the next decade and beyond.
