The Czech Defense Ministry will purchase tactical radio communications from the U.S. government for Czech soldiers whose task is to guide pilots towards selected targets, with the equipment costing 71 million korunas (€2.7 million). The deal will be made directly with the US government, Minister of Defense Lubomír Metnar informed the Czech cabinet.
“Specifically, these are CCI category communication equipment, Harris and Thales type radio stations,” Jakub Fajnor from the press department of the Ministry of Defense explained.
“These will help maintain and increase the capabilities of the units to provide close air support to ground units. Besides that, the new equipment will help improve techniques and procedures for air support, air superiority of the battlefield during alliance operations, defense of the Czech Republic, and last but not least, training in the Czech Republic,” he added.
Advanced air traffic controllers are one of the elite soldiers who often work behind enemy lines and guide pilots to their selected targets from there.
The agreement with the U.S. government should be signed by the end of 2020, and the implementation of then equipment is planned for 2023.
The Defense Minister Lubomír Metnar also informed the government about two other future contracts in the field of information and communication technologies for a total of about 73 million korunas (€2,8 million). The Ministry wants to purchase so-called blade servers, which will replace the servers for non-classified information on the systems in the Moravian region.
“The realization of the contract is necessary in order to protect the functioning of an important information system,” said Fajnor.
The second procurement will provide technical support and renewal for more than 40,000 software tools licenses.
Title image: Czech Defence Minister Lubomir Metnar, right, and his Hungarian counterpart Tibor Benko observe the honour guards during a welcome ceremony at the Heroes’ Square in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, June 21, 2019. (Marton Monus/MTI via AP)
