The Czech Republic has awarded BAE Systems a contract for 246 CV90 IFVs. (BAE Systems Hägglunds)

The Czech Republic has awarded BAE Systems a CZK49.3 billion (USD2.2 billion) contract for 246 CV90 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs). The contract was announced at the end of the first day of the International Defence and Security Technology Fair (IDET) 2023 being held in Brno, Czech Republic, from 24 to 26 May.

The Czech Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a press release on 24 May that the order also includes 29 workshop vehicles, training, spare parts, and other accessories. A BAE Systems Hägglunds spokesperson told Janesat IDET that deliveries would begin with 10 vehicles starting in 2026 and run until 2030.

Hungary received the first four of 12 Leopard 2A4HU tanks in July 2020. (Hungarian government)

Brigadier General Gábor Lőrincz, commander of the Hungarian Defence Forces' land forces, outlined lessons learned from Hungary's transition to the Leopard 2 main battle tank (MBT) at SAE Media's Future Armoured Vehicles Central and Eastern Europe 2023 conference in Prague.

Hungarian forces have received a company of 12 Leopard 2A4 tanks that will be used to train crews and technicians as the country undertakes efforts to switch its MBT fleet from the T-72 to the Leopard 2. The initial 12 Leopard 2A4s will serve as a bridge between the T-72 and the more advanced Leopard 2A7HU that will begin to arrive from 2023 onwards. Forty-four vehicles are on order from Rheinmetall.

Brig Gen Lőrincz said that the tank force will be propelled from using adequate late-Cold War technology to modern systems, which presents immense challenges in training crews and maintainers. The Hungarians are also ordering support vehicles such as armoured recovery vehicles and armoured vehicle-launched bridge platforms, all based on the Leopard 2.

M-113A2 Colombian, with desert scheme and camouflage mesh. (Janes/Erich Saumeth Cadavid)

The Colombian Army has 28 operational M113A2 armoured personnel carriers (APCs), about half of what it operated 10 years ago, according to army documents viewed by Janes.

Food Machinery Corp – now part of BAE Systems – delivered up to 88 units of the A1 variant in 1977. This stock shrunk to 54 vehicles in service at the beginning of the last decade, and Dynamic Trading Solutions (DTS) upgraded the vehicles to the A2 variant.

The army supply was reduced to 40 and then 32 in recent years, according to army documents shared with Janes. In January 2022 that number was cut to 28 operational vehicles, which were serviced to extend their lifetime at a cost of USD2.9 million, a US-Colombian Army agreement revealed at the time.

The M113A2s, locally called Military Personal Transport-113 (TPM-113), are deployed within three areas: Mechanized Infantry Battalion No 6 with 77% of the available units; Mechanized Infantry Battalion No 5 with 14% of available units; and Army Infantry School for instruction work with 9% available, according to army documents.