State Secretary of the Department of Defense Marian Majer traveled to Sweden today, where he and his counterpart, Peter Sandwall, signed an intergovernmental agreement to confirm the acquisition of 152 pieces of CV90 MkIV tracked armored vehicles with a 35 mm cannon.
The first pieces of this military equipment for the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic will be delivered in 2025, while they will gradually replace up to half a century old equipment of the ground forces.
As part of the SR conditions in the framework of the procurement included the real involvement of the Slovak defense industry, other related contracts were also signed in Sweden today with the participation of the manufacturer, i.e. the company BAE Systems and the state company ZTS - ŠPECIÁL, which will be the primary industrial partner of the project.
"Swedish CV-90 vehicles meet the requirements of the Slovak Armed Forces. Today, we have not only moved the cooperation between the armed forces, but also between our countries to a higher level. I am pleased that the modernization of our army is progressing over the past two years at a pace that has not been seen in decades," said State Secretary of the Department of Defense Marian Majer after the signing ceremony.
On this occasion, Minister of Defense Jaroslav Naď recalled that this is a long-term commitment of our country, which will also benefit the Slovak economy: "This is an important step towards the modernization of our armed forces and increasing the defense capability of the Slovak Republic. At the same time, it is finally a real shift towards the construction of a heavy mechanized brigade, which the Slovak Republic follows in terms of its international obligations towards the collective defense of NATO. Last but not least, we ensured significant and long-term profit for dozens of companies in the Slovak defense industry. Exactly as we promised".
An important aspect is that if the Czech Republic decides to procure the same vehicles, it can have a positive effect on the final price. "Part of the contract is also a clause referring to a possible change of the final amount in the sense of a quantity discount," said J. Naď in connection with the agreement on cooperation in the procurement and operation of tracked armored combat vehicles, which was signed with the Czech Minister of Defense Jana Černochová in August of this year.
The procurement of 152 CV90 MkIV tracked armored vehicles with a 35 mm cannon through an intergovernmental contract with the Kingdom of Sweden was approved at the end of June this year by the Government of the Slovak Republic on the proposal of the Ministry of Defense of the Slovak Republic. The total expected costs for the acquisition of track technology, including the estimated costs of the infrastructure, amount to around 1.688 billion euros including VAT.
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