The EDA commissioned RAND Europe to examine the scope for collaboration between European states in armoured vehicles (tracked, wheeled and protected transport vehicles). RAND Europe examined the current armoured vehicles demand and supply landscape in Europe and identified five potential collaboration models, spanning maintenance and upgrade, procurement and research and development.

Opportunities for European collaboration in armoured vehicles

Marta Kepe, Julia Muravska, Richard Flint, Lucia Retter, Antonia Ward, Nathan Ryan

ResearchPublished Jan 23, 2019

Europe is experiencing an increase in investment in land capabilities after more than a decade of limited spending in this area. A number of EU member states have indicated interest and planned investments in acquisition and modernisation of armoured vehicles. This study was carried out in support of the European Defence Agency's work to identify potential areas of collaboration for its participating Member States and partner countries, thus developing European defence capabilities and promoting armaments cooperation. The study examined the current armoured vehicle demand and supply landscape. As a result of the analysis, researchers identified five potential collaboration opportunities and analysed the potential related costs and benefits of each.

Key Findings

The EDA member states and partner countries hold a significant part of global armoured vehicle fleets.

  • The EDA participating member states (pMS) and partner countries' combined fleet of armoured vehicles is second in quantity only to that of Russia and slightly exceeds the combined US fleet.

The current landscape of European armoured vehicle fleets reveals a large number of vehicle families, while also illustrating considerable degree of overlap.

  • There is both a considerable degree of fragmentation in the armoured vehicle holdings of EDA pMS and a considerable degree of overlap among countries that own the same vehicle families in all three vehicle categories. This coincides with an overcapacity within the European defence industry relative to the size of the European market.

There is a balanced interest in Europe in all three vehicle types, with slightly higher level of interest in tracked armoured vehicles.

  • The researchers observed a balanced interest in the procurement of the three vehicle categories with 19 current procurement programmes and future procurement plans identified for wheeled armoured vehicles and 17 each for the categories of tracked armoured vehicles and protected transport vehicles.

A number of demand and supply factors may lead to increased collaboration in armoured vehicle in Europe.

  • Future collaborative activities would need to consider the potentially differing views of each European country on factors shaping the armoured vehicle requirement, maintenance and repair philosophies and timelines as well as any political and economic considerations.

Recommendations

The study identified five potential collaboration models that may lead to cost savings, provided that key challenges are addressed:

  • Model 1: Pooling and sharing of spare parts
  • Model 2: Joint Level 4 maintenance, repair and overhaul
  • Model 3: Joint modular upgrade
  • Model 4: Joint off-the-shelf procurement
  • Model 5: Joint platform development

Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: European Defence Agency
  • Publisher: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web-Only
  • Year: 2019
  • Pages: 13
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/RR2903
  • Document Number: RR-2903-EDA

Citation

RAND Style Manual
Kepe, Marta, Julia Muravska, Richard Flint, Lucia Retter, Antonia Ward, and Nathan Ryan, Opportunities for European collaboration in armoured vehicles, RAND Corporation, RR-2903-EDA, 2019. As of October 4, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2903.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Kepe, Marta, Julia Muravska, Richard Flint, Lucia Retter, Antonia Ward, and Nathan Ryan, Opportunities for European collaboration in armoured vehicles. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2019. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2903.html.
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The research described in this report was prepared for the European Defence Agency (EDA) and conducted by RAND Europe.

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