The Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic plans to buy approximately ten thousand CZ 805 BREN attack rifles, seven thousand CZ 75 PHANTOM pistols and 500 CZ SCORPION sub-machine guns during next several years.
According to Colonel Pavel Bulant, Director of the Armaments Division of MoD, this quantity should cover needs of all elements of Czech armed forces.
The total cost will exceed a billion Czech Crowns and the purchase is to be made through the framework of a long-term agreement. “Because the ministry is unable to expend this amount at one time, the project will be phased into several years. Based on money available, we would buy a certain number of arms,” Bulant confirms, adding that the Armaments Division at present studies legal and financial aspects of the deal.
All three kinds of weapons, BREN rifles, PHANTOM pistols and SCORPION sub-machine guns have been introduced into units recently and soldiers use them both at home and at foreign missions. Next
purchase of several thousand pieces should be started in 2014. “The delivery of almost 8 thousand attack rifles is now in process and will be closed the next year, so we think to start the further phase of the purchase in the subsequent year,“ Bulant explains.
Some five years ago, the Czech military were equipped with 18 kinds of small arms, including 70 types of cartridges in 11 various calibres. That status brought problems in procurement, funding, training and the complicated logistics. The new small arms in unified calibre will make the “handling” more simple and less expensive in future.
Asian Defence News
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