Slovakia will acquire 81 Patria AMV armored personnel carriers

The Slovak Ministry of Defence wants to purchase 81 Patria AMV armored personnel carriers. Within the Slovak Ground Forces, the new 8x8 APC will be named Vydra.

The vehicles will be locally built, with the possibility that 16 Slovak and one Czech companies taking part in the production.

The cost of the entire program is estimated at €417 million.

The acquisition is part of the efforts of the Slovak authorities to modernize the armed forces. Slovakia launched an imporant modernization program, including the purchase of the Zuzana 2 self-propelled howitzer.

Zuzana 2 is a 155 mm self-propelled howitzer with an automatic loading system of ammunition. A total of 25 such modern artillery systems will enter service with the Slovak Ground Forces until 2022.

As for the Air Force, it will benefit from the most expensive military procurement program in the history of Slovakia.

In July 2018, Slovakia selected the F-16V Block 70/72 as its new fighter jet. The Lockheed Martin's fighter won the Slovak competition in the detriment of Saab's JAS-39 Gripen.

Slovakia will acquire 14 new F-16 Block 70/72 aircrafts in a deal estimated at €1.1 billion (U.S. $1.3 billion).

Thus, the Central European country will have the most advanced F-16 variant available, which will replace its 12 MiG-29s.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon is operated by eight European states. Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway will replace their current F-16 fourth generation fighters, with the new 5th generation stealth multirole aircraft, the F-35.

The other four European countries that have F-16 jets in their inventories are Greece, Poland, Portugal and Romania.