The Latvian Armed Forces have officially taken delivery of their first infantry fighting vehicle of the Hunter type. As the manufacturer General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) Santa Bárbara Sistemas announced on this Wednesday, the ceremonial handover took place one and a half years after the program began in early 2025. The final assembly of the first of 84 ordered vehicles had begun at the Patria plant in Valmiera, where domestic production takes place.
The Hunter is based on the latest generation of GDELS’ ASCOD platform. In just 14 months, the design has been successfully adapted to Latvian requirements, produced, and tested. Like the underlying ASCOD 2, the infantry fighting vehicle weighs 45 tons and carries a three-person vehicle crew as well as a dismounted squad of up to eight soldiers. The vehicle is protected to NATO STANAG 4569 Level 4 against armor-piercing projectiles of 14.5 mm caliber from a distance of 200 meters.
Iron Fist protection system and UT30 Mk 2 turret from Elbit for Latvia
The Latvian vehicles will also receive the remote-active Iron Fist protection system and the unmanned UT30 Mk2 turret from Elbit Systems with a remotely operated Mk44 Bushmaster II 30 x 173 mm cannon, as well as the ability to integrate the Spike LR2 anti-tank guided missile. An MTU engine with 1,100 horsepower and a RENK HSWL256B transmission gives it a top speed of 70 km/h with a range of 500 kilometers.
The Hunter will equip the country’s mechanized infantry brigade, which has so far been equipped with various CVR(T) family variants from British stocks. Of the 205 vehicles acquired in 2020, some have already been handed over to Ukraine. The 84 new infantry fighting vehicles were ordered after a competition against the CV90 from BAE Systems, the South Korean K21 from Hanwha, and the Turkish Otokar Tulpar, in two equal-sized tranches; deliveries are to be completed by 2027.
