10.01.2023, Prague.
The US and the Netherlands financed the modernization of hundreds of T-72 tanks to be delivered to Ukraine. The Czechoslovak Group will carry out the work, the ČTK newspaper reported on January 9.
It is reported that the Excalibur Army manufacturing company of the Czechoslovak Group holding had already upgraded T-72 tanks for delivery to Ukraine last year. The engine, communication and guidance systems have been upgraded, and armor has been strengthened by means of dynamic protection.
Previously, the production capacity allowed for the modernization of five tanks per month.
“We can produce about five per month. These tanks are an important support for the Ukrainian army,” said company spokesman Andrei Chirtek.
The company is currently investing 650 million Czech crowns (about $30 million) in expanding production.
As a member of the Warsaw Pact, Czechoslovakia was armed with equipment of its own design, as well as developed in the Soviet Union. After the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in February 1991 and the country’s division into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic has embarked on a course of integration with the West.
In 1994, it began to actively involve the countries of the Warsaw Pact in NATO. One of the platforms was the project Partnership for Peace, participation in which was regarded as the first step to full membership in NATO.
Excalibur Army began its activity in 1995 as a seller of military equipment of the Soviet type, which had become unnecessary under the new political course. It specialized in the development of new models, as well as the repair, modernization and trade of military equipment.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
