When Minister of Defense Robert Kaliňák entered the head of the defense department, the ministry ended plans that could lead to the mass production of Slovak howitzers for Ukraine, which would be involved in the Kramator plant of heavy engineering (KZVV). This step was very paralyzed by the functionality of one of the most important Slovak state arms, the predecessors Jaroslav Naď and Martin Sklenár, as well as defense expert and security analyst Vladimír Bednár, agree.
As it turned out later, Slovakia in cooperation was replaced by a partner from the Western world, namely Denmark.
They didn’t want the Ukrainians
why the new defense boss stopped the potential project. Kaliňák either did not want to cooperate with the Ukrainians, or – as Exminister Naď points out, he decided to use the Slovak production capacity in favor of the Czech armist – private Michal Strnada.
When we look into Kaliňák’s business past, the names of Strnad’s companies can be found in their cooperation. In this case, this would mean that the Slovak state arms factory suffered in favor of a Czech entrepreneur.
that it would not be possible for technical reasons to favor their howitzers over the Slovaks. However, as both devices meet NATO parameters, army expert Vladimír Bednár says that it is enough to correct the parts.
However, the issue is even deeper. Equipment is an extremely lucrative and profitable business especially during the war. Nowadays, when our Eastern neighbors in Ukraine are facing unprovoked Russian aggression, many countries (not only) of the European Union are exploiting this potential for growth and financial flows in state armaments. And they try to look into the future when the war ends in interest in weapons will fall. It does not look so completely in Slovakia.
Calling from Copenhagen
When Kaliňák’s leadership of the resort backed out of cooperation with the Ukrainians, the armory from Kramatorsk found partners with Danes. And just below the first of September last year, the amount of more than EUR 560 million was shining.
But pretty good. Slovenské Zuzany 2 produces Zbrojovka constructa-defence from Dubnice nad Váhom. Almost the whole process can handle alone – except for the cannons of these weapons. He needs to help with the barrels and usually turns to another state-specific state enterprise. Both companies are based in Dubnica and fall under the HOLDING, which is managed by the Ministry of Defense.
After the beginning of the war in Ukraine, three Western countries, Denmark, Norway and Germany, ordered sixteen Slovak howitzers. The vision was that these countries would pay Bratislava for their production and subsequently give them to Ukraine.
Naď and Sklenár thought that in the case of these few pieces, the construction of the barrels could help Ukrainian armory KZVV. It has 30 % lower prices and twice faster delivery times than its sister company ZTS-SPECIAL. This Slovak company would not lose orders and would continue to produce mainly for all other candidates.
And this is exactly what Kalinak stopped. , he stated that the Ukrainians do not even allow the export of military materials to Slovakia. This is described by Jaroslav Naď as nonsense and notes that this type of international cooperation is in many other cases the standard.
The production of Zuzán 2 began to stagnate, but the problems do not end here. As stated by the source of Aktuality.sk, the Dubničany and the armory from Kramatorsku should not only cooperate in the production of the main production for Slovak howitzers.
“For Ukraine they had construct and KZVV to develop a new howitzer together,” the source pointed out. Potentially it would be a business that would bring huge sales to the Slovak armaments, but the plans fell. Kaliňák refused Kiev, and he then turned his eyes away from Bratislava and looked at Copenhagen.
Aktuality.sk therefore asked the Ministry of Defense how he perceived with hindsight that the new howitzer and Kiev did not go into the development of the new howitzer, but we did not see the answers to the article.
Don’t you want Zuzana? They will be Bohdany
Danish-Ukrainian cooperation began on 29 September 2024 by the memorandum. This was soon bearing the first fruit.
Although the Ukrainians are still waiting for the deliveries of the last ordered stagnant Zuzán and, for example, Czech Dits from Private Strnada. However, the Kramatator plant also started to produce newer versions of his own howitzer Bohdan, which he managed thanks to finances from Denmark.
Slovak-Ukrainian cooperation was to be in the spirit of common production, which would also accelerate the whole process of constructing Zuzán. Copenhagen sends Kiev money to make weapons in his own territory. It is therefore a gift for Ukraine,But Denmark for this generosity will not end in the minus anyway. How is it possible?
Part of the investment will be reimbursed by the European Union, another source of finance may come from frozen Russian assets. In addition, the source of Aktuality.sk also points out that the Ukrainians dislocate the Bohdan production section to Denmark, so in the Scandinavian country there will be revenues in the area of armaments.
Only the eyes for crying can remain even more for Slovak armory because Copenhagen is already considering introducing Bohdán into his own armament and NATO portfolio, which would gain other customers.
According to the Danish model, according to only 2024, the Ukrainians were able to produce weapons (including Bohdan) worth up to 590 million euros. And today the cooperation continues and there is no indication that it should not be so next year.
The vision of the former leadership of the Slovak Defense, therefore, is fulfilled by Danes at the expense of our state armor. Most of this is losing construct-dofnce as the main manufacturer Zuzán.
“The construct was supposed to be one sovereign state -owned joint stock company. And we really have a company without a vision and a future that can not produce any Zuzana in a month and no one counts on it as a partner,” said the source of Aktuality.sk.
Limited lifetime of the Slovak armament
However, at first glance, Slovak armory arms, despite the unused potential in exports Zuzán or the production of a new howitzer, still flourish. It is often in cooperation with companies belonging to the Strnad family, such as ZTS-special provides them mainly to the howitzers Dita. For the time being, the armory – with the exception of constructs – sales are growing or significantly declining, but according to the expert it will not be forever.
Analyst Vladimír Bednár points out that Slovak state armars are threatened with a bankruptcy precisely because in international cooperation they primarily focus mainly on the Strnadovci companies and abandoned the eastern neighbors.
“The production of Ukraine is currently greater than the entire European Union. It is also significantly cheaper and produces the same products,” notes Bednár, saying that this fact is already aware of private people around Strnadovcov and have transferred parts of their production to Ukraine. Slovakia is not.
“If there is a ceasefire in Ukraine, our Slovak military industry will lose orders,” explains Bednár. Kiev will only reduce its demand for weapons, but especially it will be increasingly able to produce itself.
The Danish approach the Bednar is also positively evaluated. Part of the production of howitzers Bohdan Copenhagen dislocates into its territory, thereby fighting against the decline of its armament industry. “Slovakia does not look into the future,” added the expert.
