Slovakia weighs unconventional military shift with CV90120-T
Slovakia, which currently has limited tanks, is considering abandoning plans to purchase new Leopard 2A8s. Seeking savings, they may opt for CV90120-T fire support vehicles. This situation is exciting because no NATO country uses this equipment.
The doubts of the Slovak Ministry of Defence were described by the portal Denník N. Robert Kaliňák, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of Slovakia, believes that currently there are no funds in the country's budget to purchase a more significant number of modern tanks. At the same time, the need to strengthen the Slovak army with heavy equipment is still evident. The compromise would be the CV90120-T.
Will Slovakia buy CV90120-T? It would be an exception in NATO
The Slovak army currently has 30 Soviet-era T-72M1 tanks and 15 Leopard 2A4 tanks, which Germany supplies as compensation for Slovak equipment transferred to Ukraine. One hundred four modern Leopard Eventually, 2A8 tanks were planned to be replaced with the EuroTrophy active protection system eventually. However, a purchase will not be possible due to the limited financial resources available to the Slovak Ministry of Defence.
A very unusual direction was chosen in search of alternative solutions. Currently, the frontrunner in the race for a place in the Slovak armoured forces is the CV90120-T. This is a fire support vehicle developed by BAE Systems. In this case, the costs would be approximately $12 million per unit. However, CV90120-T is equipment not used by any NATO country, which may raise further questions about the interoperability of the armies of the Alliance's member states.
CV90120-T on the chassis of a well-known infantry fighting vehicle
The history of this fire support vehicle (light tank) dates back to 1998, although the current order would result in the acquisition of upgraded, newer variants after modernizations - CV90120-T.
The CV90120-T is based on the chassis of the well-known CV-90 infantry fighting vehicle. However, it is distinguished by its 120 mm smoothbore gun, which has a barrel length of 6 metres. Although its firepower would be comparable to that of heavy tanks, the CV90120-T does not provide such a high level of protection—it is more lightly armoured.
From Slovakia's perspective, purchasing the CV90120-T may prove beneficial not only financially but also as an investment in equipment well-suited to the previously ordered infantry fighting vehicles, CV-90 – 152 units of the CV-90 MkIV with a 35 mm cannon.
