Prague, Sept 29 (CTK) – The Czech military is planning to buy 41 Tatra special terrain lorries on which mortars can be mounted and will have land-mine proof cabins for over half a billion crowns, Defence Ministry spokesman Petr Medek told CTK yesterday.
The Defence Ministry wants to give the order directly to the Czech Tatra Trucks company, Medek said.
Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky (ANO) wants to inform the government about the deal on Wednesday, he added.
“With the purchase, there will be a basic modernisation of the mortar units with the 120 mm mortars, a considerably increase in their combat capability and in the protection of the crew,” Medek said.
Given their age, the Praga V3S vehicles, now used by the ground forces, are no longer usable, do not fulfil the demands for a safe transfer of ammunition and do not provide protection to the crews, he added.
The Czech military uses the Tatra chassis for most of its lorries.
“Within the unification of the equipment, there is a considerably simplification of the logistics, while costs are saved,” Medek said.
The four-axle vehicles will have extended land-mine proof cabins, Tatra spokesman Andrej Cirtek has told CTK.
The resistance of the cabin was verified by test explosions, he added.
“Tatra invested tens of million crowns in their development,” Cirtek said.
“If launched, the project will be the biggest deal of the Czech military for Tatra in the past five years,” he added.
“The new version of the Tatra with the cabin also has a strong export potential,” Cirtek said.
The vehicles are to be delivered by next November. The deal is supposed to cost 511 million crowns without the VAT.
($1=24.387 crowns)