Weapon Supplies to Ukraine Help Repair Tarnished Image of Czech Arms Makers

Soviet-era Mil Mi-17 helicopter. Photo: Vitaly V. Kuzmin / Wikimedia commons The tradition of the (Soviet) arms industry

Czechia has a long tradition of heavy arms manufacturing dating back to the Austro-Hungarian industrialising times, which was further developed during the interwar period. Present-day production capacities were largely inherited from the Cold War era when Czechoslovakia served as an important arms supplier for the whole of the Eastern Bloc.

Until the 1990s, Czechoslovak factories produced huge amounts of materiel, mainly under Soviet licenses, including aircraft, tanks and heavy artillery. The sector employed more than 90,000 workers in dozens of factories scattered across the country, which supplied weapons not only to the Czechoslovak Army subordinated to Soviet command, but also to its allies in the Warsaw Pact and for export to politically aligned governments across the developing world.

By way of illustration, between 1945 and 1992, Czechoslovak factories produced over 50,000 tanks and armoured vehicles. Of this number, the Czechoslovak Army took delivery of about a third, while the larger part was successfully exported to other states of the Eastern Bloc, Africa and the Middle East.

CZ BREN 2 assault rifle made by Česká zbrojovka a.s. Photo: Česká zbrojovka Post-1990 doldrums

The collapse of the Communist regime in 1989 and subsequent dissolution of Czechoslovakia caused a political and economic shock to the country's arms industry, which subsequently lost its strategic importance and most of its markets.

Under the new democratic system, the Czech military was reformed, professionalised and substantially reduced. On its way to joining NATO structures, the armed forces made a strategic decision...