The Future Forces Forum (FFF) this year showcased a wide range of innovations and expert discussions, as well as many intriguing products, solutions, and technologies. Among the exhibitors were state-owned enterprises under the Ministry of Defence, demonstrating their commitment not only to advancing the Czech defense industry but also to providing essential service and support to the Czech Army. In this context, we conducted interviews with the directors of each state-owned enterprise that participated in this year’s FFF: Jiří Protiva, director of LOM PRAHA, Vlastimil Navrátil, director of VOP CZ, and Jiří Kašpárek, director of VTÚ.

Video: Current and future plans of state-owned enterprises of the Ministry of Defence / CZ DEFENCE

Jiří Protiva, the director of LOM PRAHA, noted the enthusiastic response from visitors, including President Petr Pavel and Minister of Defence Jana Černochová. There was also great interest in the state enterprise's exhibition from foreign delegations, for example from Africa. The delegates were interested, for example, in the possibilities of training pilots at CLV Pardubice. LOM PRAHA is no longer just an engine repair facility. "We no longer train only pilots, we do not service and repair Mi series helicopters, but we are expanding. We go hand in hand with the rearmament of the Czech Army. We got involved in the H-1 helicopter program with the Viper and Venom. We recently got involved with an industrial agreement for the Embraer aircraft. And at the same time, I am very happy that we are actually the first in the Czech Republic to sign an industrial agreement with Lockheed Martin in the F-35 programme," Protiva's director says in the interview.

Due to new activities, such as pilot training for 5th generation aircraft, many things need to change, including training curricula and programs. This fact is also related to the increased use of the airports operated by LOM PRAHA. "Let's say that we have occupied both Moravia and Bohemia. In Pardubice we have our facilities for the Flight Training Centre. However, it turns out that the airspace there is relatively congested. This is due to the fact that the Czech army is increasing the requirements for pilot training in terms of the number of hours. Therefore, we are considering making more use of the airport in Přerov, which we have at our disposal and are listed as the operator, in the future. As of 11 July this year, we can boast that we are also the operator of the airport in Pilsen-Líně, where we have helped to maintain the primary operation for the army in the future, but at the same time we have allowed the operation there to remain as before," says Jiří Protiva.

Along with the preparation for the new F-35 pilot training system, new L-39 Skyfox jet trainers are scheduled to arrive. "If everything goes according to schedule, we expect the aircraft sometime around St. Nicholas Day. After that, three more aircraft that we have bought will land in Pardubice, and of course we have an option for four more there. I expect that more aircraft will be needed in the future, because we do not want to just respond to the requirements of the army, but we want to become more involved in NATO Flight Training Europe, and therefore we will need more aircraft to meet the requirements of foreign customers," Protiva plans.

The state enterprise LOM PRAHA is doing well in the field of development, successfully responding to new challenges within the framework of the modernization of the Air Force of the Czech Army. The state enterprise shows positive economic results and this year will be no different. We expect the profitability of the state enterprise to be slightly higher again, and this of course gives us the opportunity to invest funds back into its development. And perhaps at this point, before the end of the year, I can say that we have the ambition to approach two billion in sales, which has never been the case in the state enterprise LOM PRAHA," adds Jiří Protiva, director of the state enterprise LOM PRAHA.

The director of VOP CZ s.p., Vlastimil Navrátil, is in a slightly different situation. After his arrival on 1 September this year, he had to stabilize the situation in the company. "People were there for three quarters of a year without an appointed director. On the one hand, he has great powers, on the other hand, of course, he is responsible and punishable," says the new director of VOP CZ. In the state-owned enterprise, it was mainly necessary to stabilise the overall situation and to provide people with information about the management's plans. "I started to meet with all the people, I meet with the trade unions for example, there was some frequency of once every two months. Today I meet with them every 14 days. I think the main thing is to put information online so they know what I want to do or what I'm doing. Same with the supervisory board. Basically, I inform the Supervisory Board and the Ministry as the owner beyond what I have to do," explains Vlastimil Navrátil.

At this year's FFF, the state enterprise VOP CZ introduced a novelty in the form of the autonomous robotic vehicle TAROS PYRO Explorer, which is designed for pyrotechnical reconnaissance in extremely dangerous areas with the possibility of X-ray detection of dangerous objects. However, Director Navrátil is critical of the TAROS project in general. This originally unique product has not fully exploited its commercial potential. "It was ahead of its time. However, it has been very slow to find sales results and a place on the market in this form, and the costs, including subsidies and research work and so on, are high and hurting the company," admits Director Navrátil. Therefore, he says, it is important to find a way to keep the concept in the company, but at the same time ensure commercial effect. "We will change the concept by the end of the year. I am waiting for the strategy to be prepared, which we will simplify. And it will serve more practical things, let's say for all those who will be interested," Navrátil plans.

An important moment at the FFF for VOP CZ was the signing of a memorandum with Tatra Kopřivnice regarding the supply of chassis for 29 workshop vehicles (in modifications for maintenance, tracked equipment and special armament) within the project of acquisition of tracked CV90 BIPs for the Czech Army. The second memorandum signed between VOP CZ and the state enterprise LOM PRAHA concerned cooperation in the field of modernisation of military equipment of the Army of the Czech Republic.

The second memorandum was signed by the state enterprise VOP CZ with Kopřivnice Tatra | Michal PivoňkaaAnother expected positive development, according to director Navrátil, is the use of the potential of cooperation with Thales and the expected inclusion of the Bushmaster vehicle in the public tender to be announced by the Ministry of Defence. "From our point of view, the army has to say whether or not it wants it and under what conditions. But we cannot rely only on orders from the Czech army. I know that the UK is interested in Bushmaster. There is a possibility of supplying hundreds, maybe thousands of these vehicles to Ukraine. We are ready to do it not only for the Czech army, but for anyone who will be interested," says the director of VOP CZ.

A key topic for the SOE is the industrial cooperation on the CV90 project for the Czech Armed Forces. Currently, the company is trying to fulfil all its commitments to the Swedish company BAE Systems Hägglunds.

The third state-owned enterprise contacted was the Military Technical Institute (VTU), which also boasts a number of projects with foreign partners, where it acts as a subcontractor for certain components. "These are mostly projects that are associated with Rafael or Elta, where we are both a subcontractor - say of command and control containers - and we also take care of the bureaucratic part of things. This means that we are trying to secure the projects in terms of certification so that we can operate them in a classified mode," says Jiří Kašpárek, the director of VTÚ, in an interview.

The attraction of the VTU exhibition was the Light European Vehicle (LEV) Sabre from the company Arquus, in whose development the state enterprise participated. "We developed a vehicle that was primarily intended for airborne troops and we bid in the original tender and we will try to bid in the tender that will follow. Of course, we also have ambitions to sell to other partners than just the Czech army," says director Kašpárek.

One of the VTÚ's locations is a guarded workplace in Vrbětice, where, for example, the production of grenades for the Czech Armed Forces was moved from the Colt CZ Defence Solutions company from the Colt CZ Group holding. As the readers of CZ DEFENCE could read, the buildings and their entire operation have undergone a demanding and precise reconstruction, and they meet the strictest criteria for the production of grenades.

In the interview, Director Kašpárek also mentioned the importance of mutual cooperation and support between state-owned enterprises. For example, if SOEs have a shortage of production capacity, they primarily look for available capacity in the STU. The Military Technical Institute can also offer services in the field of testing. We learned that the SOE is currently completing an interesting military project in the form of a field kitchen. "We assume that this is a breakthrough project in the field of army logistics, that it will finally switch to modern equipment, for example, on a Tatra chassis. Even the actual equipment that will be in the kitchen should correspond to the 21st century," plans Jiří Kašpárek, director of the state enterprise VTÚ.