Western defense companies enter Ukraine with plans to produce own weapons here, and one of the products to start going down local assembly lines is CZ BREN 2, an assault rifle that might eventually phase off Kalashnikov guns, or at least prepare the Ukrainian Army to a complete transition to Western arms.
The initial stage of negotiations on CZ BREN 2 production in Ukraine has already begun, as the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic announced at the DFNC1 forum in Kyiv. Moreover, there is already a local brand name Sich. Side note, the Czech-Ukrainian cooperation goes beyond just rifle manufacture and includes ammo production, armored vehicles, and more. All details here:
Read more: Czechia Considers Producing CZ Bren 2 Rifles and Tatra Trucks in Ukraine
From Ukraine's perspective, localization of production on its territory is not only a matter of strategic importance, objectively, it is also a matter of survival against the russian invasion and a matter of the ability to provide enough personal weapons for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, vastly increased over the past 1.5 years.
The Czech offer is all the more attractive because it would be difficult for Ukraine to find any alternative to Western small arms at this point. There is no tradition of designing assault rifles in Ukraine, nor mass production of them. All there is available is the local variant of the AR-15, an almost forgotten production of Tavor, and a few Kalashnikov rifle redesign drafts.
Now when it comes to CZ BREN 2 (a.k.a. CZ BREN 806), it features a proper level of quality to become a candidate for the main personal weapon of the Ukrainian Army. Not to mention, the story of BREN in the Czech Army began with the plan by the country's Ministry of Defense to discard the vz. 58, a rifle visually similar to the AK series, yet significantly different on the inside, of Czech own development.
After several attempts failed due to the lack of budget, Česká zbrojovka presented the first version of CZ BREN in 2009. A year later, in 2010, it outperformed FN SCAR-L on a tender, the first supplies began in 2011. Practical experience of application led to the creation of the CZ BREN 2 which got an overhaul based on feedback from soldiers.
As a result, the weight of the assault rifle dropped 0.5 kg, the bolt action got modernized, the magazine well replaced, disassembling the gun became easier, plus some other minor changes were introduced. The upgraded rifle was immediately adopted by the army.
All versions of CZ BREN have sort of a unique trait: they were designed as a modular weapon: by changing the barrel and magwell insert, you could switch from 5.56×45 mm to 7.62×39 mm or vice versa. On the outside, the CZ BREN 2 looked quite similar to the previously mentioned FN SCAR-L, and both use automatics in their short-stroke piston gas operation system.
In that gas system feature the CZ BREN 2 is similar to all modern assault rifles that get procured en masse as the unified weapon for the entire army (in contrast to rifles for special forces). For example, the HK416 which is getting bought by by France and Germany – as a replacement for the G36, – or the Polish development called the Grot all have the same short-stroke gas piston.
Apart from the Czech Republic, the transition to CZ BREN 2 also began in Hungary in 2018, where it won over the Grot in the tender. Furthermore, Hungarian HM Arzenal bought technology for local production under license. The value of the 2018 contract was EUR 100 million, according to media reports. The plan was to produce 200,000 guns by 2028.
That is, the very fact that two armies have chosen this assault rifle for a combined-arms weapon can already be considered a rather important factor in the assessment of whether or not to adopt the product into the Ukrainian army, in our case. Because such assessment is based not only on the tactical specifications and capabilities but on the financial aspect as well.
At the same time, Ukraine now has enormous opportunities to put the candidates among assault rifles to the test and choose the one that will actually prove the most effective in real war conditions. The thing is, CZ BREN 2 has already found its way into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, either donated or sold by the Czech Republic (there is no official data because Prague does not disclose the de-facto huge volumes of support it sends to its neighbor) and is actively used by the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
In other words, the choice can be made upon the data gathered in the process of real application. Interestingly, the Ukrainian soldiers even coming from the same unit regularly make their own ratings based on completely different types of assault rifles that they use at the same time. Like this one in the video below, CZ BREN 2 appears at 3:45.
On top of that, what's especially important in the context of local manufacturing, this experience will come in handy to improve the weapon in order to make it more useful and comfortable.
Read more: Vast Arsenal of Ukrainian Special Forces: Guns From All Around the World
