The companies of the Czechoslovak Group (CSG) holding received another significant contract for the Indonesian armed forces in a short time. After a previously announced contract for rocket launchers, ammunition and engineer vehicles, Czech companies will newly supply, in cooperation with local companies, Indonesia with 23 Pandur II 8x8 armored fighting vehicles. The contract was concluded in December 2019.
Currently, Excalibur Army from CSG holds supplies of special floating bridge vehicles for Indonesian armed forces on the basis of a contract worth billions of Czech Crowns from 2017. Completion of deliveries is planned for the second half of 2020. Excalibur Army in cooperation with Tatra Defense Vehicle will start to perform another contract for the Indonesian Army, which the Czech companies have recently won. Between 2021 and 2022, the Indonesian army will acquire more than two dozen Pandur II 8x8 floating wheeled combat vehicles, which will be equipped with a combat turret mounted with a 30 mm cannon by Ares company.
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The project is backed by Excalibur Army, which has an extensive sales network and has already achieved several business successes on the Indonesian market, in cooperation with Tatra Defense Vehicle, a leading Czech manufacturer of ground military equipment and Pandur II 8x8 production license holder. The Czech Ministry of Defence, specifically the Industrial Cooperation Department under the leadership of Tomáš Kopečný, provided very significant support in the negotiations on this contract in support of domestic industry projects. The state-owned Indonesian company PT. PINDAD (PERSERO) will also participate in the supply of vehicles. “Within the framework of industrial cooperation, the Indonesian partner will ensure the production of some technological subgroups and participate in the final assembly of vehicles. In the future, the Indonesian company is expected to be involved in the production of Pandur II 8x8 vehicles due to the possibility of extending the contract to hundreds of vehicles, ”Excalibur Army Commercial Director Richard Kuběna said.
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“The latest contract for the supply of Pandur II vehicles to Indonesia is another significant commercial success of the CSG holding companies. What makes it even more important is that the Indonesian armed forces were trying for find a solution of the modernization of their armament by acquiring modern vehicles on the 8x8 chassis for several years and carefully choosing between different offers and types of vehicles,” Michal Strnad, owner of CSG holding, said. The command of the local army demanded equipment proven in operation, ideally included in the armament of the NATO armies, with very good terrain throughput, navigation capability and ballistic and anti-mine resistance corresponding to modern standards. All criteria were met by the Pandur II 8x8 vehicles, produced in the Czech Republic and serving within the Czech Army.
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Excalibur Army has already made several successful projects in Southeast Asia. In addition to the current contract for special bridge and logistics vehicles, the company in recent years delivered to Indonesia, for example, RM-70 Vampire rocket launcher systems, including special support and command vehicles. The company continues to supply missile technology, spare parts for ground vehicles and also provides services for the Indonesian Army and Marine Corps.
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In addition, in the region of Southeast Asia the company offers other combat and engineer vehicles from its portfolio. Besides the Pandur II 8x8 these include the Patriot I and II 4x4, the AM-50 EX and AM-70 EX mobile bridges on Tatra chassis. The AM-50 EX has already found its customers; advanced negotiations are held with the first potential customers about the AM-70 EX.