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Slovakia backing out of Scipio 8x8 purchase
Slovakia's military is pulling out of its planned purchase of 31 Scipio 8x8 wheeled infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), according to the draft of its latest defence White Paper.
The updated White Paper 2016 is based on 2013 edition, approved by the previous Slovak government, and will cover the development of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic until 2030. Currently, the updated version has been submitted for comments and is slated to be submitted to the cabinet at the end of July. The new document emphasises making Slovakia self-reliant in the defence of its territory.
The Scipio vehicle is based on the Polish Rosomak 8x8 armoured personnel carrier (APC) chassis (itself a derivative of the Finnish Patria AMV). A letter of intent for the Scipio programme was signed by Slovakia and Poland in July 2015.
Slovak Ministry of Defence spokesperson Danka Capakova confirmed that "at the time of preparing the draft of the 'White Paper on Defence', negotiation with Poland based on the letter of intent were ended".
Slovakia had intended to eventually buy up to 66 Scipio IFVs to equip two motorised battalions. The estimated value of the programme was EUR75 million (USD83 million), including EUR46.5 million price of Rosomak chassis. Part of the Polish-Slovakian deal was the repair of Poland's 152mm wz.1977 Dana self-propelled howitzers by Slovakian companies.
Instead of the 8x8, the Slovakian government plans to focus on smaller 4x4 vehicles (the Aligator, manufactured by the local Kerametal company), according to the draft defence White Paper; however the new priorities are still only a proposal.
Despite Slovakia's apparent lack of interest in buying Scipio, Bartlomiej Misiewicz, spokesman of the Polish Ministry of Defence, said that Polish-Slovak negotiations are continuing, and that the steering board is still the active body that will finalise a government-to-government deal.
The Slovak armed forces were planning to buy 31 Scipio 8x8 IFVs for the ISTAR battalion, part of 2.
http://www.janes.com/article/62665/slovakia-backing-out-of-scipio-8x8-purchase
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