Author: Jana Deckerová, army.cz|Caption: ShKH M77 DANA Self-Propelled Gun Howitzers, Joint Fires 2018
On Tuesday 4th September the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff presented essential decisions and timings concerning the most important acquisition projects to the members of the Subcommittee on Defence Acquisitions, Military Equipment Trade and Innovation of the Army of the Czech Republic. The total price for 8 different projects reaches almost CZK 92 billion (USD 4.1 billion). The largest acquisition of more than 200 Infantry Fighting Vehicles, the most expensive ever in history of the Czech Army, will not be awarded on the basis of a public tender process, Czech Television reported yesterday.
The details of the acquisition projects were published by Security Magazín. Except for the acquisition process of the tracked Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV), the sums and dates were expected. Within these most important projects the Ministry of Defence will purchase:
- 210 tracked Infantry Fighting Vehicles in 7 variants (combat, command, reconnaissance, engineer, medevac, artillery reconnaissance and recovery) for CZK 51.6 billion (USD 2.32 billion), the contract is to be signed in June 2019, and the deliveries are expected for 2020-2025;
See also: Czech Army’s Modernization Projects: the IFVs
- 80 Light Armoured Vehicles (Iveco 4x4 Light Multirole Vehicles, S-LOV-CBRN and LOV-CBRN II) at a price of CZK 5.1 billion (USD 230 million), the contract has been signed on 30th August with the Military Research Institute, the deliveries are planned for 2020-2022;
See also: Czech Army’s Modernization Projects: Light Armoured Vehicles
- 52 Self-Propelled Guns (155 mm NATO) for a total of CZK 4.3 billion (USD 195 million). The contract is to be signed in November 2019, and the deliveries would come in 2020-2022;
See also: Czech Army’s Modernization Projects: the Self-Propelled Artillery
- New artillery fire-control system for CZK 910 million (USD 41 million), the contract is planned for October 2019, and the delivery and implementation for 2020-2022;
- 12 multipurpose helicopters at a total price of CZK 12.5 billion (USD 564 million), the contract will be signed in 2019, and the helicopters are to be delivered in 2022-2023;
See also: Czech Army’s Modernization Projects: the multipurpose helicopters
- 4 batteries of a Short Range Air Defence (SHORAD) system for CZK 10 billion (USD 450 million), the contract will be signed in 2019, and the deliveries are expected for 2021-2024;
See also: Czech Army’s Modernization Projects: SHORAD/MSAM Air Defence Systems
- 62 TITUS Wheeled Command Post and Communications Vehicles at a total price of CZK 5,8 billion (USD 259 million); the contract has been recently awared to Eldis Pardubice Ltd., member of the Czechoslovak Group, it should be signed by April 2019, and the deliveries are scheduled for 2020-2025; another sum of CZK 950 million (USD 43 million) is earmarked for a five-year service support;
See also: Czech Army’s Modernization Projects: Wheeled Command Post Vehicles
- 16 RBS-70 NG Very Short Range Air Defence system at CZK 1.2 billion (USD 52 million), the contract is expected in October 2018, and the deliveries in 2020-2021;
See also: RBS-70 Anti-Aircraft Missle System: the Czech price checked
According to the information of the Security Magazín, the contracts are to be awarded on the basis of a public tender process. But the new vice-chairman of the Subcommittee on Defence Acquisitions, Military Equipment Trade and Innovation of the Army, Radovan Vích, said the IFV project can hardly be achieved in standard public tender schedule: "The infantry fighting vehicles are beyond their lifetime since 2015. If it is in 2018 that we discuss the system of government procurement or direct supplier, it's simply bad." Should the deliveries begin effectively in 2020 to start replacing the outdated BVP-2s, there is not much time left.
According to the Czech Television, the IFV contract, the largest and most expensive ever in history of the Czech Republic, will not be awarded on the basis of public tender process. The Ministry of Defence will adress potential suppliers directly. According to the Army, they are just a few potential suppliers of relevant vehicles which can meet the Army’s requirements. The major competitors discussed since several years already are: CV9030CZ by BAE Systems, ASCOD 2 by General Dynamics European Land Systems, Lynx IFV by Rheinmetall and Puma IFV by PSM.
When will the Army be able to make a new commercial with new vehicles and systems
purchased through the announced acquisition process?
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