Czech Republic and Slovakia announce cooperation to procure CV90 vehicles

The Ministries of Defence of the Czech Republic and Slovakia signed an agreement on 27 August for cooperation in the procurement and operation of CV90 vehicles.

Although the acquisition process will be carried out separately in each state in accordance with national laws, the partnership is intended to lead to an increase in mutual cooperation and combat capabilities, as well as in economic advantage.

In order to achieve maximum efficiency, the countries will jointly address issues related to the purchase, such as opportunities to involve national defence industries and the technical specifications of vehicles.

‘The declaration gives us better opportunities for cooperation, production and development of spare parts, joint training, sharing capacities and capabilities,’ Jana Černochová, the Czech Minister of Defence, stressed.

Jaroslav Naď, the Slovak Minister of Defence, pointed out that both states are ‘addressing the need to replace the outdated BVP-1 and BVP-2 with a new tracked armoured combat vehicle meeting NATO standards’.

After facing several obstacles to progress with the troubled IFV procurement effort, the Czech MoD announced in July its intentions to negotiate the acquisition of CV90s with the Swedish government.

The Slovak MoD, in turn, selected the CV90 in June under the PBV programme, and a production contract is expected to be signed by the end of 2022.