Slovakia to buy Israeli Barak MX air defense systems for $610M

WARSAW — The Slovak government has approved the purchase six Barak MX air defense systems with related equipment for an estimated €554 million ($615 million), according to the country’s deputy prime minister and defense minister, Robert Kaliňák.

Slovakia and Israel are currently negotiating the final terms of the planned deal, Kaliňák was quoted by the state-run news agency TASR.

The Slovak defense industry is to cooperate on the procurement with manufacturer Israel Aerospace Industries. The purchase will also include radars, missiles and related equipment.

“As far as I know, two companies [from Slovakia’s defense sector] have been approached, one state-owned and one privately-owned, in the field of radars, and in the field of missile production,” Kaliňák said.

Under the plan, the first system is to be delivered to the Slovak armed forces in late 2025.

The deputy prime minister claims that, over the course of negotiations, his ministry was able to reduce the initial price tag of some €128 million per system to about €92 million apiece, with additional funds set aside for the accompanying gear.

Kaliňák had previously spoken of two other offers for Slovakia’s envisioned air defense system, from U.S.-Norwegian and French-Italian consortia. The considered weapons included NASAMS and SAMP/T NG, respectively.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

华沙——据斯洛伐克副总理兼国防部长罗伯特·卡利尼亚克称，斯洛伐克政府已批准购买六套巴拉克MX防空系统及相关设备，预计价值5.54亿欧元（6.15亿美元）。

据斯洛伐克国家通讯社TASR报道，卡利尼亚克表示，斯洛伐克和以色列目前正在就计划中的协议的最终条款进行谈判。

斯洛伐克国防工业将与以色列航空航天工业公司合作采购。此次采购还将包括雷达、导弹及相关设备。

卡利尼亚克说：“据我所知，斯洛伐克国防部门的两家公司已经接洽，一家是国有企业，一家是私营企业，涉及雷达和导弹生产领域。”

根据该计划，第一套系统将于 2025 年底交付给斯洛伐克武装部队。

副总理声称，在谈判过程中，他的部门成功地将每个系统的初始价格从约 1.28 亿欧元降低到约 9200 万欧元，并预留了额外的资金用于配套设备。

卡利尼亚克此前曾提到，美国-挪威财团和法国-意大利财团还向斯洛伐克提出了另外两份防空系统方案。这两份方案分别考虑了NASAMS和SAMP/T NG两种武器系统。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。