Slovakia and Sweden signed an intergovernmental agreement on the acquisition of the tracked infantry fighting vehicles

Today, State Secretary of Defence Marian Majer traveled to the Kingdom of Sweden where he, together with his counterpart Peter Standwall, signed an intergovernmental agreement on the acquisition of 152 tracked infantry fighting vehicles CV90 MkIV with 35mm cannon. First batch of this military equipment will be delivered to the Slovak Armed Forces in 2026, gradually replacing legacy hardware of the land forces.

As acquisition conditions included engagement of the Slovak defence industry, related contracts including the producer, BAE Systems, and the primary industry partner, ZTS ŠPECIÁL, were signed in Sweden.

"The Swedish IFV CV-90 meet criteria of the Slovak Armed Forces. Today, we upgraded the cooperation not only between our armed forces, but also between our countries. I am glad that modernization of the Slovak Armed Forces is rapidly moving forward. In the last two years, the pace of our army's modernization achieved levels that have not been seen in decades," stated Marian Majer, State Secretary of Defence after the signing ceremonial.

At the occassion, Minister of Defence Jaroslav Naď reminded that the country is fulfilling a long-term commitment, also benefiting the Slovak economy: "It is an important step in the modernization of our armed forces and increase of defence of the Slovak Republic. It is, too, a concrete progress in the development of the heavy mechanized brigade that presents an international commitment with respect to the NATO collective defence. Last, but not least, we have secured a substantial and long-term profit for dozens of defence industry companies in Slovakia. Exactly as we had promised."

It is important that if the Czech Republic decided to acquire the same vehicles, it would have a positive effect on the final price. "A clause on the possible change of the final price related to economies of scale is included in the contract," stated J. Naď following the August 2022 signing with the Czech Minister of Defence Jana Cernochova of the cooperation agreement on the acquisition and servicing of the tracked infantry fighting vehicles.

The acquisition of 152 tracked infantry fighting vehicles CV90 MkIV with 35mm cannon through an intergovernmental agreement with the Kingdom of Sweden was approved by the Government of Slovakia in June 2022 following the recommendation by the Ministry of Defence. Current total estimated costs of the acquisition of the tracked vehicles, including the costs on the infrastracture, amount to roughly 1.688 bilion eur, including the VAT.