Czechia Halts Joint Ammunition Purchases With Slovakia

The Czech Office for the Protection of Economic Competition has blocked a joint ammunition purchase with Slovakia. The procurement was to be made from the Slovak company ZVS Holding, which is part of the Czech holding Czechoslovak Group.

The Slovak military publication Future Army reported on this.

Slovakia and the Czech Republic have already signed several cooperation agreements. For example, they agreed on a joint procurement procedure for CV90 infantry fighting vehicles and Tatra trucks.

In March 2025, Slovak Defence Minister Robert Kaliňák and Czech Defence Minister Jana Černochová ultimately elevated their cooperation to a higher level by signing a declaration of mutual cooperation in Bratislava. The agreement was intended to cover several additional areas.

According to Černochová, in the case of Tatra, these were indeed large-scale purchases and, according to her, the Czech Republic wanted to ‘return the favor’ to Slovakia by purchasing ammunition.

According to the publication, the purchase was to include all calibers except 155 mm, as the Czech Republic already has a contract for that type of ammunition. The Czech military was particularly interested in ammunition for 30 mm and 120 mm guns – that is, for armored vehicles and Czech Leopard 2A4 tanks. The joint package was also supposed to include 155 mm ammunition for Slovakia’s Zuzana 2 self-propelled howitzers.

However, these plans were disrupted by the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition, which ruled that the Czech Ministry of Defence acted unlawfully by attempting to conclude the contract without a tender. The office issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the ministry from signing the contract until a final decision is made.