Political party SmerSD has entered force in Slovakia, and although its pro-russian leader announced that no more military donations will be provided to the neighboring Ukraine, the supplies will not stop coming from this country.
Slovakian parliament speaker Peter Pellegrini specified that the commercial contracts must be separated from military aid which is provided free of charge, and remain in force, Defense Express reports. Considering that Slovakia has already given an impressive amount of weapon assistance, including S-300 air defense systems, transport helicopters, or MiG-29AS fighter aircraft, plus an undisclosed number of vehicles, there are not many resources left in stock anyway.
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Although worth noting that all those assets weren't provided entirely for free because, in fact, there was a method similar to the German "ring exchange" applied to compensate for Slovakian expenses. The United States gifted "vouchers" for procuring weapons from American manufacturers. Thanks to this, Bratislava acquired AH-1Z Viper helicopters at almost a 70%–off discount.
After all, the ongoing and most probably future defense contracts are at no risk of getting canceled. Now this is the only way to get more weapons from Slovakia. Foremostly, the deal on Zuzana-2 self-propelled artillery systems, signed between multiple countries in favor of Ukraine, is important here. This artillery system is produced by Slovakian state manufacturer Konštrukta-Defence. Also, we should not forget about this company's plans to create a new howitzer together with Ukrainian partners; but those are not the only weapons Ukraine is counting on.
Overall, the Slovakian defense industry is not particularly diverse but the key part is that it sought to keep weapons of Soviet and Czechoslovakian heritage in good shape and modernized.
For example, a whole variety of companies make spare parts and offer modernization for BVP-1 and BVP-2 of Czechoslovakian origin (local versions of Soviet BMP-1 and BMP-2, respectively), T-72 tanks, Dana self-propelled howitzers, RM-70 multiple rocket launchers.
Taking into account that Ukraine still mostly operates the same kind of equipment, the orders will keep coming; and not necessarily only from Ukraine itself, for other countries may as well fund weapons for Ukraine.
Another key field of cooperation is ammunition production. One of the largest ammo manufacturers in Slovakia is MSM Group, with 122mm, 152mm, and 155mm shells, mortar bombs, 125mm tank rounds, 122mm Grad rockets, and 30mm autocannon rounds available for sale.
That mentioned, it is unlikely that the Slovakian government will go further and impose a ban on all military products exports to Ukraine. As Peter Pellegrini noted, "If someone orders and pays for these systems, then that is support for Slovak industry," as quoted by Reuters, with reference to Dennik N newspaper.
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