The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) has signed a contract with German manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) to upgrade the Swedish Armed Forces' main battle tanks. 44 tanks will be refurbished and modified at a cost of 3.5 billion Swedish kronor and will subsequently receive a new designation: Stridsvagn 123A. Deliveries to the Swedish Armed Forces will begin in 2026, FMV states in a press release.
"Tanks will be the backbone of the Army's brigades for a long time to come. That is a conclusion we can draw from the ongoing war in Ukraine. The order we are now placing with KMW represents a considerable modernisation of our tank fleet and extends the vehicles' service life at least into the 2030s," says Jonas Lotsne, Head of FMV's Army Materiel Division, in the press release. The agency states that this marks the beginning of the most comprehensive upgrade of the Stridsvagn 122 (a Swedish variant of the Leopard 2) since the vehicles were procured in the early 2000s. The upgrade includes, among other things, the replacement of virtually all electronic components in the vehicle so that the system is aligned with other modern Leopard 2 variants, a new gun in L55 calibre with greater capability for programmable ammunition, new night-vision sights for the gunner and commander, a night-driving camera for the driver, and finally a new track assembly, including tracks.