Slovakia To Procure Over 100 Main Battle Tanks

The Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic plans to purchase more than 100 main battle tanks to form and equip two new tank battalions in the land forces. This announcement was made by officials representing the Slovak Ministry of Defence at the Future Armoured Vehicles Central & Eastern Europe conference, which took place on 13-14 May in Prague, Czech Republic.

By 2030, the Slovak Armed Forces will operate 45 main battle tanks as part of the 14 Tank Battalion, a unit of the 2 Mechanised Brigade of the land forces. Thirty of these tanks are Soviet-era T-72s.

In recent years, the Slovak Ministry of Defence considered launching a program to upgrade these tanks. However, according to a statement by Captain Jakub Murcek from the Modernisation Department of the Slovak Ministry of Defence, the Slovak T-72 tanks will not be modernised.

Another 15 main battle tanks are Leopard 2A4s, which have been delivered to Slovakia by the German defence company Rheinmetall. These tanks were gifted to Slovakia by the government of Germany under the “Ringtausch” initiative, aimed at compensating for the donation of military equipment and weapon systems to Ukraine.

According to Captain Murcek, by the end of 2024, the Leopard 2A4 tanks will be fully integrated into the Slovak land forces.

At the Future Armoured Vehicles Central and Eastern Europe conference, Captain Murcek said that in the coming years, the structure of the Slovak land forces will be reorganised.

The Slovak Ministry of Defence plans to form two new tank battalions, each equipped with 52 newly procured main battle tanks. Capt. Murcek mentioned that the Slovak Ministry of Defence has not yet decided which type of tanks it will purchase. Offers from the industry are currently being evaluated by the ministry. However, he stated that an agreement for the new main battle tanks is expected to be signed this year or in 2025.