Finnish and Norwegian armed forces will receive advanced vehicles and the Swedish military will receive sophisticated new artillery and ammunition systems.

BAE officials attributed the sales to strong existing relationships between BAE Systems and armed forces in the Nordic region.

Climate change and warming of the Arctic have raised security concerns in northern Europe and analysts see Nordic defense expenditure continuing to rise in response to increased economic and military activity in the region.

BAE Systems will supply 16 RG32M mine-hardened patrol vehicles worth more than $8.1 million to the Finland military.

The company also won a $7.2 million amendment to an existing contract to enhance the propulsion and mobility of Norwegian M113 vehicles.

Contracts signed in March and worth more than $200 million cover production of 48 Archer 155mm self-propelled artillery gun systems and their associated ammunition handling systems for the Swedish and Norwegian armed forces.

"These recent wins reflect the strong position emphasis BAE Systems' land business is putting on exports, both of new products and to support our equipment which is already in service around the world," said Scott Leitch, a BAE vice president for business development.

"We have built strong relationships on key land programs with the armed forces in the Nordic region and we continue to explore opportunities to work with them further, to provide the best products and support activities for the men and women in their armed forces," he said.

The RG32M order from Finland follows on from a contract for six similar vehicles in November 2006. The new order will be carried out by the Land Systems business in South Africa, with delivery of all the vehicles anticipated to be completed by early 2011.

Although the order is for standard production vehicles, including a suspension upgrade, it includes an order for the new Series 3 variant, which provides for a higher payload, increased power and higher protection levels.

Sweden's armed forces, some of which are deployed in Afghanistan, have 200 RG32M vehicles in service.

The Norwegian M113 vehicles will be modified with upgrade kits from BAE Systems in the United States to convert them to the M113E3 configuration. The upgrade kits include powerpack, suspension, weld, air conditioning and hydraulic manifold.

The upgrades will supplement 72 kits supplied to Norway by BAE Systems in the USA from 2007-09.

The suspension upgrades enable the vehicle to use rubber band tracks and provide passengers with a smoother ride. Support to the Defense Logistics Organization in Norway is included in the contract. BAE Systems' work on the contract is likely to be complete by July 2011.

The company said as its land and armaments unit experienced lower volumes in traditionally mature U.S. and U.K. markets it built up a strong export portfolio in Europe and a number of other markets, including India and the Middle East.

BAE Systems employs 107,000 people worldwide in a range of products for air, land and naval forces and reported sales of $34 billion last year.

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