New artillery to be produced in Slovakia

The armoury industry in Slovakia is planning an expansion with the creation of 800 new jobs. The state-owned joint-stock company KONŠTRUKTA-Defence of Dubnica nad Váhom (Trenčín region) will produce 25 pieces of upgraded Zuzana 2 self-propelled howitzers worth up to €175 million by 2022. Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš (Slovak National Party/SNS) said that the new jobs were to be created thanks to the decision to support the domestic defence industry and to introduce Slovak products into the Slovak Armed Forces. Besides the Zuzana 2 howitzers, the artillery company also plans to produce 88 pieces of 8×8 military armoured vehicles, built in cooperation with the Finnish company Patria. Defence analyst Jaroslav Naď sees behind this move pure political marketing, and notes that the presented numbers are not backed by the real situation. Moreover, the artillery company is aware that there might be problems finding qualified employees for the production.