JSC Ukrainian Defense Industry reported on its official website that in November this year, the licensed assembly of BREN-2 assault rifles started, which is the result of cooperation with Česká zbrojovka, a subsidiary of the well-known Czech company called Colt CZ.
"The partnership with Czech colleagues will help to better meet the needs of the Defense Forces of Ukraine for reliable and modern small arms manufactured in our country. In addition, another step has been taken to integrate our defense industry into the industrial chains of NATO countries," head of Ukroboronprom, Oleh Hulyak stated.
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To understand the start of the assembly of these Czech assault rifles in Ukraine, let us first recall the background of the project. The starting point was September-October 2023, when the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic announced the beginning of negotiations with Ukraine on the localizing CZ BREN-2 assault rifles (CZ BREN 806) under the name Sich.
Subsequently, at the end of February this year, it was officially announced that an agreement of intent had been signed between Ukroboronprom and Česká zbrojovka on the transfer of the license.
In the end, as reported by Ukroboronprom, the agreement for the first licensed assembly and eventual full production of Czech BREN-2 assault rifles was signed on July 16 this year. Thus, it took about four months from the signing of the agreement to the start of assembly.
It took about a year and two months from the start of negotiations, including all organizational processes.
It is important to mention that plans to build an ammunition factory in Ukraine in cooperation with Sellier & Bellot, a member of the Colt CZ Group, were also previously confirmed.
Earlier Defense Express reported that the Czech company had provided Ukraine with more than 700,000 euros for anti-tank grenade launchers.
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