Slovakia plans to acquire new wheeled and tracked IFVs Infantry Fighting Vehicles.

According to information released by the Slovak Ministry of Defense, the armed forces of Slovakia plans to acquire 500 8x8 AFVs (Armored Fighting Vehicle) and 228 tracked AFVs by 2035.
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Old Soviet BMP-2 tracked IFV Infantry Fighting Vehicle will be replaced by new IFV. (Picture source Army Recognition)

The acquisition plan should happen in five stages with a first delivery next year. In the first step, Slovakia wants to acquire 76 8x8 armored vehicles in IFV configuration as well as 156 tracked armored vehicles also in the IFV variant.

The second phase of this acquisition will include another batch of 72 tracked armored vehicles in the IFV variant, and some others versions including APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) vehicle, mortar carrier, and engineer vehicles.

According to the first requirements published by the Slovak Ministry of Defense (MoD), the IFV version must be armed with 30 or 40 mm cannon, and the vehicle will be able to accommodate a crew of three and 7 infantrymen. The vehicle must have also amphibious capabilities.

For the tracked IFV, Slovak MoD showed interest for the Lynx from Rheinmetall, the CV-90 from BAE Systems, and ASCOD from General Dynamics while for the 8x8 IFV, the competitors are the Pandur II from General Dynamics, the AMV from Patria, and the Rosomak from Poland.

According to the military balance 2020, currently, the Slovak army has a total of 148 Soviet BMP-1, 91 BMP-2 tracked IFVs and 72 OT-90 tracked APCs, 7 OT-64 and 15 Tatrapan wheeled APCs.

As a NATO member, Slovakia would like to modernize its armed forces with new combat vehicles using European standards and replace the old- Soviet-made military equipment.