Ukrainian Armor signed an agreement with Czechoslovak Group to produce 155 mm shells

Ukrainian Armor signed a package of documents in cooperation with the Czechoslovak Group (CSG) on the sidelines of DFNC2: International Defense Industries Forum.

Militarnyi’s correspondent reported.

One agreement concerns the supply of components, and the other refers to the licensing of ammunition production (transfer of technology and documentation for producing artillery rounds).

The license obtainment process will continue until the end of this year, and production is expected to begin in early 2025.

“We plan to produce and supply about 100,000 rounds of ammunition next year and more than 300,000 in 2026. The process of preparing the equipment has already started,” Vladyslav Belbas, head of Ukrainian Armor, told Militarnyi.

He noted that some ammunition will be produced in Ukraine and some in the Czech Republic. Such cooperation will allow companies to increase ammunition production and reduce the cost of a finished shot.

Increasing the supply of such ammunition is obviously one of the key problems of supplying the Armed Forces of Ukraine, both on its own and with the help of supplies from partners.

This includes the production of standard 155 mm HE M107 high-explosive projectiles, 155 mm HE ER-BВ VMK/MKM (43 km range with Base Bleed warhead), and 155 mm HE ER-BT VMK/MKM (37 km range with Boat Tail warhead). In addition, it is planned to produce other artillery rounds and NATO-caliber tank rounds.

It should be noted that in April 2024, in an interview with Reuters, the company’s CEO Michal Strnad shared that he was considering organizing joint production with a Ukrainian company. The signing of the documents with Ukrainian Armor is the implementation of this development strategy of CSG Holding.

Before that, Michal Strnad stated it was artillery ammunition production.

In addition, the Czechoslovak Group plans to produce other defense products in Ukraine, such as spare parts for armored vehicles, armored steel products, etc.

The Czechoslovak Group (CSG) combines the production capacities of many European plants and is one of the largest producers of artillery rounds in the European Union (MSM, ZVS, VOP plants in Slovakia, FM Granada in Spain, Serbia, etc.) The company plans to invest millions of euros in establishing joint defense enterprises in Ukraine to support the defense sector.