The Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic has postponed the purchase of the new Shot Range Air Defence (SHORAD) missile systems for the Czech Army, more precisely for the 25th Air Defence Regiment. According to the MoD representatives, it is the only postponed strategic project. The costs of acquisition of the new air defence systems are estimated at 10 milliard CZK.

According to the last plans, the agreement for the new Short Range Air Defence Systems has to be concluded at the end of 2020 after confirmation of the decision to increase the defence budget. The defence budget should achieve the level of 1,4 % GDP in 2021 and to grow gradually up to 2 % GDP in 2024.

Picture: 2K 12M KUB M (SA-6 GAINFUL) Air Defence Missile Set | army.cz

The purchase of new short range air defence systems for the Czech Army is forced by the approaching end of the service life of the actually used Soviet complexes of 2K12 KUB type (marked in the NATO code as SA-6 Gainful), which are sometime called as “three fingers of death” due to three missiles on the launcher.

Picture: 2K12 KUB Self-Propelled Air Defence Missile Set | Wikimedia Commons

As earlier as 2016, Diehl, Kongsberg, Lockheed Martin, MBDA and Rafael replied to the request of the Czech Ministry of Defence for information on possibility to deliver new missile air defence systems. MoD of the Czech Republic has preliminary earmarked about 10 milliard CZK for the purchase of the new systems.

Picture: Tatra T-815-7 V8x8 | army.cz

The project, however, counts with the armament of four batteries, each of them with four launchers, a command and control post and a 3D radar. The systems should be most probably placed on the chassis of the Tatra 815-7 vehicles with the 8x8 configuration, and should be transportable by the C-130 Hercules, C-17 Globemaster or A-400M cargo aircraft. The systems should be equipped with a modern communication device, Link-16 and Link-11B, with a high resistance against disturbance.

Picture: NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) of Norway-American corporation Konsberg-Raytheon is considered to be a favourite between the systems offered for the Czech Armed Forces | Konsberg-Raytheon

NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) of Norway-American corporation Konsberg-Raytheon is considered as a favourite between the systems offered for the Czech Armed Forces. This system as the main element of target destruction, uses the ground version of the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM).

Video: Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) within the NASAMS system / YouTube