At today's meeting, the Government of the Slovak Republic approved the proposal of the Ministry of Defense of the Slovak Republic to procure 152 pieces of tracked armored vehicles CV90 MkIV with a 35 mm cannon, through an intergovernmental contract with the Kingdom of Sweden.
These vehicles will gradually replace up to half a century of obsolete equipment of the ground forces of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic. Together with the 8x8 wheeled armored combat vehicles, it is also a key armament for ensuring the protection and defense of the Slovak Republic and the most important step towards building a heavy mechanized brigade, which the Slovak Republic follows in terms of international commitments to NATO collective defense.
"I am grateful to my colleague for the unequivocal support of the selection, which meets the requirements of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic as much as possible, set financial limits, including the total vehicle price, logistical support, operating costs and the criteria of real involvement of the domestic defense industry. The primary subcontractor will be the state company ZTS - ŠPECIÁL, and dozens of other Slovak state and private companies will benefit from the project in the long run,” said Minister of Defense Jaroslav Naď.
The government cabinet agreed with the order of comprehensive offers of governments as submitted by the Minister of Defense. Based on the results of the evaluation, the Ministry of Defense of the Slovak Republic recommended in the first place a Swedish vehicle CV90 with a 35 mm cannon on the chassis MK IV, the second in the order was also a CV90 with a different (30 mm) cannon. The ranking of the comprehensive evaluation was followed by the Hungarian offer with the LYNX KF41 vehicle and the Spanish offer with the ASCOD vehicle.
The project and evaluation involved a project team composed of approximately 60 experts from the Ministry of Defense of the Slovak Republic and the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic in all assessed areas, but in certain aspects also experts from the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic.
The proposal of the Ministry of Defense was the subject of a preliminary and inter-ministerial comment procedure. The material was also continuously consulted and subsequently submitted for assessment to the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic - Value for Money Department.
The next step will be the preparation of an intergovernmental agreement between the Government of the Slovak Republic and the Government of the Kingdom of Sweden for the negotiation and conclusion of an intergovernmental agreement and an implementation agreement. The advantages of the acquisition at the government-government level include not only a substantial increase in the guarantee of delivery of the procured equipment, but also the possibility of deeper military cooperation and the deepening of strategic partnerships.
The total estimated cost of acquiring the tracked technology, including the estimated infrastructure costs, is around € 1.688 billion including VAT.
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