Miloš Balabán ne 1. 6. 9:42 (před 1 dnem) komu: mně Will the Czech Republic become an arms superpower again?

From Wednesday to Friday, the prestigious International Defence and Security Technology Fair IDET opened its doors in Brno. It was conceived as a pro-export platform for the Czech defence and security industry, which coincidentally is currently experiencing a period of rapidly increasing prosperity. Due to the war in Ukraine, ensuring the country's defence capability has become a priority within the Czech Republic and throughout Europe, which cannot be done without the support and development of the defence industry.

It can be said that a "window" of opportunity has opened when Czech arms manufacturers can revive the country's tradition as an arms superpower, which was true during the First Republic and in communist Czechoslovakia.

The era of the "peace dividend" after the end of the Cold War with low military budgets is already in the past. Taking advantage of the increased defence budget to 2% of GDP and another percentage more by the end of the decade is also a considerable challenge for arms manufacturers. Of course, it will also involve the use of new European resources for defense in the order of hundreds of billions of euros.

We are already becoming a leading ammunition power. The largest domestic arms holding, the Czechoslovak Group (CSG), is capable of producing large volumes of small-caliber and large-caliber ammunition, and in the case of small-caliber ammunition, the company has already become its third largest producer in the world.

It produces in EU and NATO member states thanks to acquisitions that CSG has made in Italy, the United States, Slovakia and Greece. This meets the criteria of the often-mentioned European security resilience and reducing dependence on non-European suppliers. And there is also an important socio-economic aspect: ensuring production in regions with high unemployment.
But the IDET trade fair also showed an example of "smart defense". The Pandur 8x8 EVO combat vehicle manufactured by Tatra Defence Vehicle made its world premiere here. It is literally "stuffed" with modern fire systems, including against unmanned aerial vehicles, and it also has a high level of crew protection.

In this context, however, the idea that increasingly sophisticated weapons also require soldiers who will be able to operate them also comes to mind. However, the serious problems of the Ministry of Defense with recruiting new soldiers show that this may be the bottleneck of military modernization.

Another bottleneck is undoubtedly the fact that most of the increased defense budget goes to "purchase of iron", while investments in research and development are very low. In this regard, the Czech Republic is at the tail end of NATO.
In this case, the Ministry of Defense should not miss the research of the prestigious Kiel Institute for the World Economy published before the February Munich Security Conference, which estimated that Europe's long-term productivity could increase by up to 0.25 percent for every one percent of GDP spent on military research. The chance of becoming an arms superpower again today also depends on the degree of robustness and effectiveness of the state's entire scientific and research base.

Miloš Balabán