RENK wins $35M gearbox order for Patria TRACKX vehicles

German transmission maker RENK Group has won a €30 million (about $34.8 million) order from Finland’s Patria to supply HSWL 076 transmissions for the TRACKX, a new tracked armored vehicle that Finland and Sweden began buying at the end of September. RENK said on Oct. 6 that deliveries under the order will start in 2027.

RENK did not say how many transmissions the order covers. It follows a smaller pre-production batch Patria ordered from RENK at the start of 2026, and RENK described the new contract as significantly larger.

The TRACKX is designed as an armored personnel carrier with an empty weight of 12 tonnes (about 26,500 pounds) and a payload of 3.5 tonnes, with room for ten soldiers in a compartment fitted with blast-attenuating seats. Patria says it is meant to replace the aging M113 and MT-LB tracked vehicles still used in Finland and Sweden. The vehicle runs on wide rubber tracks with adjustable hydropneumatic suspension and was developed under the multinational FAMOUS program, co-funded by the European Defence Fund.

The two countries’ first purchases are small. Sweden will buy five pre-series vehicles for testing and evaluation, while Finland has not disclosed how many it is acquiring. Finland has also signed a letter of intent with Patria covering possible future serial deliveries. Patria plans to begin serial production of TRACKX in 2027 or 2028.

“The announced vehicle procurements by Finland and Sweden are a key step towards series production for TRACKX. We have been involved with this vehicle family through the development, testing and pre-production stages, and will now be continuing this cooperation with Patria,” said Michael Masur, CEO of Vehicle Mobility Solutions at RENK Group.

The HSWL 076 was built for light tracked vehicles in the 10- to 20-tonne class. It weighs about 700 kg (1,540 pounds) and combines steering, braking and propulsion in a single, digitally controlled drivetrain. Because the vehicle’s movement is handled electronically, RENK says the same transmission can support remote control, platooning, where several vehicles follow a lead vehicle automatically, and future autonomous driving.

That is the basis for a separate project between the two companies. At Eurosatory 2026 in Paris in June, RENK and Patria showed a concept for a heavy unmanned ground vehicle that pairs the TRACKX platform with the HSWL 076 and RENK’s drive-by-wire system. RENK says the setup can be used in crewed vehicles, optionally crewed vehicles and tracked vehicles designed from the start to operate without a crew. Neither company has announced a customer for the unmanned version.

Patria is owned by the State of Finland, which holds 50.1%, and Norway’s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, which holds 49.9%. RENK, based in Augsburg, Germany, makes transmissions for a wide range of military vehicles and reported revenue of about €1.4 billion (about $1.6 billion) for 2025.