The already 2nd Czech Defence Industry Day took place recently in Luxembourg, where NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) has a head office. MoD and Defence and Security Industry Association of the Czech Republic participated in its organization. NSPA is a NATO acquisition agency, which invests annually almost 4 milliard EUR in behalf of its customers. This is, thus, a significant player in the market with defence and security materials with a potential of wider engagement of Czech companies.

Companies from the Czech Republic have been gaining orders averagely for 23 million EUR annually for the last 5 years. By these reasons, the aim of the already second Industrial Day was to familiarize NSPA with the Czech production of military materials and with assortment of services, as well as to inform the representatives of the Czech military industry about functioning, processes and procedures of realization of acquisitions on the part of NSPA.

Picture: NSPA logo

It is knowledge of the NSPA processes and function first and foremost that is absolutely fundamental in case of participation in the announced orders. That’s why the aim of the action was to contribute in that form to the successfulness of Czech companies within the announced orders. There were companies with various consciousness and experience with NSPA, but predominance was on the part of novices, which especially appreciated a presentation of how NSPA works, a possibility of correct registration into the list of potential suppliers in the respective segment, as well as information on the rules of sending quotations.

Picture: The 2nd Czech Defence Industry Day in NSPA | army.cz

The program of the action has been officially started at the level of ambassadors: Peter Kubernát, who is an ambassador of the Czech Republic in Luxembourg, and Jakub Landovský, who is an ambassador of the Czech Republic at NATO. The both agreed in their speeches that the industry plays an important role as a linchpin in the defence capability. Landovský has even extended this consideration by information concerning the ongoing strategic cooperation of NATO and the defence industry, including up-to-date trends and initiatives on the NATO side. “NATO is fully conscious of importance of cooperation with the defence industry and necessity of continuation of its deepening with the aim of effective planning of defence capabilities,” emphasized Landovský.

Within the all-day program, the Czech companies had a chance to be informed on NSPA and eventually to ask questions about particular specifics of acquisitions, as well as to present their production and discuss it in detail with particular experts of various departments of the alliance agency.

Picture: Group photo of the participants of the 2nd Czech Defence Industry Day in NSPA | army.cz

CZ Defence comment: Some procurements through NSPA inspire passion. For the well-functioning of cooperation, NSPA should absolutely unambiguously support companies of our domestic defence industry. As was mentioned at the beginning of the article, companies from the Czech Republic have been gaining orders averagely for 23 EUR annually for the last 5 years. It’s, surely, not a bad number, but taking into account our top-class technology giants, such as Czechoslovak Group holding (including Tatra Trucks), Česká zbrojovka, etc., this amount might be resolutely significantly improved. Our companies have something to offer the world, and let’s hope that NSPA can actively assist in it.