Finland Orders Over 100 Patria M3 TREMOS 120 mm Mortars for EUR 49.9 Million, Option for Hundreds More
Helsinki, 8 September 2026
Key points
- Finland's defence ministry announced on 8 September an order for more than 100 Patria M3 mortar systems, designated 120 KRH M3 by the Army and marketed as TREMOS, at EUR 49.9 million excluding VAT
- First systems are complete in autumn 2026 and deliveries run to 2028; the contracts carry options for several hundred further systems
- A pilot series bought at the end of 2024 has been in training use with the Army since January 2026; the ministry puts the domestic employment effect at about 130 person-years
- The containerised 120 mm mortar mounts on 4×4, 6×6 and 8×8 trucks and light tracked carriers, fires from the vehicle bed and is ready to fire within a minute of halting; laying and loading are manual
Finland ordered more than 100 Patria M3 mortar systems on 8 September for EUR 49.9 million excluding VAT, with deliveries from this autumn to 2028 and options for several hundred more, moving a containerised 120 mm mortar from a pilot series fielded in January into a fleet buy.
Antti Häkkänen announced the order as a domestic system that "brings a significant increase in fire support for the infantry". The M3 packages a 120 mm mortar in a container that sits on wheeled trucks or light tracked carriers, traverses about 185 degrees either side, elevates between 40 and 80 degrees and fires from the vehicle bed without ground supports; laying and loading stay manual, which is what keeps the unit cost below EUR 500,000 on the ministry's own figures. The ministry attributes that price to reused, proven components and to inertial navigation equipment bought under existing framework agreements, and says domestic sourcing secures spares. The pilot series bought at the end of 2024 has trained with Army units since the start of the year.
Finland is buying mobility for a mortar force it already has. The Army's own framing of the M3 is that mortar mobility improves; the 120 mm tube and its ammunition are unchanged, and the option for several hundred further systems reads as an intention to put the whole heavy-mortar establishment on vehicles rather than to add a battalion's worth, a reading Großwald holds until the first option is exercised. The order is also the second sub-EUR 100 million award to a domestic or Nordic supplier from Häkkänen's ministry in a fortnight, after the RBS 70 NG buy from Saab, and both carry options in place of a larger initial quantity; Signal No. 141 carries the order beside the day's larger procurement items from Berlin and Kielce.
