Slovakian government headed by pro-russian Prime Minister Robert Fico prioritized fulfilling defense orders from Azerbaijan over the ongoing deal with Ukraine, claims Slovak opposition politician Juraj Krupa.
In brief, Baku awarded a contract for DITA self-propelled artillery systems to a Czech company Excalibur Army. The gun barrels to these systems are made at Konštrukta-Defence in Slovakia and are the same ones as used on the Zuzana 2 systems which Ukraine is waiting for. Specifically, Krupa states that the barrels intended to equip Zuzana 2 went to DITA systems instead and promises he would raise the issue at the defense committee.
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Juraj Krupa notes that Slovakia has committed to exporting 16 Zuzana 2 howitzers to Ukraine but the Minister of Defense Robert Kaliňák prioritized the order from the Czech manufacturer and Azerbaijan over the contract with domestic arms maker and Ukraine.
Defense Express suggests, let's not jump to conclusions and consider all the aspects to this story carefully. First of all, the actual customers of 16 Zuzana 2 self-propelled guns for Ukraine are Denmark, Germany, and Norway who signed an agreement in October 2022 and jointly allocated funds (€92 mln) for the purchase. It was an additional order, extending the previous contract on 8 Zuzana's between the Slovakian manufacturer and directly Ukraine, signed back in June 2022.
So far, the materiel supplied in the framework of this additional contract is only 2 howitzers. Their arrival in Ukraine was announced on August 1st 2023, and no further updates appeared since then. That is despite Slovak media wrote that the remaining 14 should be delivered "in the coming months," with the last batch arriving no later than early 2024.
For a reminder, the government of Slovakia has changed after elections held in fall 2023, but at the time Fico, despite his reluctance to gift any aid to Ukraine, promised that he wouldn't interfere with commercial defense contracts with the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
At the same time, we must keep in mind that the absence of media reports about supplies does not always mean such supplies don't take place.
As for the contract between the Czech Excalibur Army and Azerbaijan, Krupa says it's about 70 DITA howitzers, and if true, it must be a very important contract that neither Baku, nor Prague, nor Excalibur Army has officially announced.
Once again, even if there's no official notification about an arms sale, it's not a 100% guarantee that such an agreement does not exist and the supply is being not carried out. Though we should note that earlier this year, Slovak defense minister Kaliňák visited Azerbaijan and promoted Slovak weapons, including the Zuzana 2.
Another thing to note down is the alleged usage of the same type of barrels for DITA and Zuzana 2. The official data on these weapons mention a different barrel length: 45 calibers for DITA and 52 calibers for Zuzana 2, both support the 155mm caliber ammunition, as specified by their respective manufacturers.
In this case, the real reason might be not that the barrels are the same but rather the deficit of production capacity. Excalibur Army's official partner in DITA production is ZTS Special, a Slovak company making, among other things, 45- and 52-cal barrels. The latter is explicitly specified to be for the Zuzana 2.
One more detail to the context is that the Slovak Army, notwithstanding the Ukrainian issue, continued to receive Zuzana 2, and reported on the arrival of two new units on December 14th, 2023. That is, even if there was a certain shortage of barrels, the domestic manufacturer remained unaffected by it.
To sum things up, there is currently no 100% confirmation that the government of Slovakia forced ZTS Special to default on its obligations to Konštrukta-Defence, which resulted in the latter thwarting its contract on Ukrainian howitzers. Yet in our case, it's not a contract with Ukraine itself but an obligation to the governments of Denmark, Germany, and Norway, because they are the actual customers of Zuzana 2 for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
And if the contract is not fulfilled, then the executor faces fines. However this time it's not just any other delay to fulfill a defense contract within the European Union and NATO. If it turns out that the failure of the contract was the result of planned and deliberate actions of the current pro-russian Slovak government, it may turn into a serious international precedent.
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