In February 2023 the Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic completed the Feasibility Study for Acquisition Projects of Air Defence Firing Means which lays out future steps for the modernisation of the 11th Air Force Brigade.
Like other components of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic (Ozbrojené sily Slovenskej republiky, OS SR), the Slovak ground-based air defence is facing a significant decline in combat capability as a result of very low defence spending in recent years. While the inadequacies with reconnaissance and surveillance systems has been remedied by the acquisition of new Israeli radars ordered from ELTA Systems in March 2021, the purchase of replacements for obsolete surface-to-air missile systems is still in the making.
Credit: Rafael Advanced Defense Systems
Current Situation
All Slovak ground-based air defence assets are operated by the Slovak Air Force within the 2nd and 11th Air Force Brigade. The former unit with the headquarters at Zvolen conducts command and control duties as well as continuous radar surveillance of the Slovak airspace and provides a complete air situation picture to the relevant entities. Its Radar Surveillance Battalion operates eight radar surveillance companies at Michalovce, Veľká Ida, Ožďany, Močiar, Hlohovec, Mierovo and Prešov. It is currently equipped with P-37MSK, RL-4AM Morad-L and PRV-17 (Odd Group) radars. The brigade’s armament is supplemented by one stationary VERA-NG passive surveillance system.
The old radar equipment will be replaced by the new Israeli 3D radars. In total, six ELM-2084M-MMR, five ELM-2084S-MMR/GBAD and six ELM-2138M MC radars were ordered for EUR 148.2 M including VAT (EUR 123.5 M excluding VAT). Their deliveries for the 2nd and 11th Air Force Brigade were planned to take place from April 2023 to 2025. However, the entire project is facing delays and the first 3D radars will not be delivered until 2024.
The 11th Air Force Brigade headquartered at Nitra is responsible for the air defence of important political, economic and military centres of Slovakia as well as for the protection of Slovak ground forces against aerial attack. The unit is composed of three air defence missile groups equipped with four batteries of the 2K12 Kub (SA-6 Gainful) at the 2nd Anti-Aircraft Missile Group and 54 9K38 Igla (SA-18 Grouse) MANPADS (man-portable air defence system) and 24 OT-90 armoured personnel carriers at the 3rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Group.
The sole S-300PMU (SA-10 Grumble) system of the 1st Anti-Aircraft Missile Group was completely retired in April 2022 and handed over to Ukraine as military assistance during the Russo-Ukrainian War. Additional air defence equipment was donated to Ukraine in March 2023, comprising one 1S91 missile guidance radar and two 2P25 launchers of the 2K12 Kub system, together with 52 3M9ME and 148 3M9M3E missiles.
With the current obsolete armament, the 11th Air Force Brigade is capable of performing its tasks until April 2025, when the service life of 9M39 missiles of the Igla system ends, or November 2027, when the lifespan of 3M9M3E missiles of the Kub system comes to an end.
During 2023, the 11th Air Force Brigade is expected to receive two MANTIS C-RAM (counter rocket, artillery, and mortar) systems donated by Germany. Following the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Slovakia’s air defence has been reinforced with MIM-104 Patriot PAC-3 and SAMP/T systems from the USA, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy since March 2022.
Credit: Bundeswehr
Future Capabilities
According to present plans, the Slovak Air Force requires the acquisition of ground-based air defence/missile defence systems for the protection of the Slovak territory capable of providing:
Defence against tactical ballistic missiles with a range of up to 1,000 km for at least six defence infrastructure objects on the Slovak territory.
Defence for objects in the west and east of Slovakia including air bases against aeroplanes, helicopters, cruise missiles as well as Class II and III unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Defence for at least four objects, such as important cities (Bratislava and Košice) and nuclear power plants, against rocket, artillery, and mortar (RAM) munitions.
For the protection of the Land Forces units of the OS SR, the Slovak Air Force wants to acquire air defence systems for providing:
Defence for manoeuvre battalions and heavy mechanised brigade command post/heavy mechanised battalion group declared for NATO – against aeroplanes, helicopters, cruise missiles, Class II and III UAVs as well as RAM munitions.
Defence for manoeuvre battalions against aeroplanes, helicopters, cruise missiles, Class II and III UAVs.
Defence for mechanised brigade command posts against aeroplanes, helicopters, cruise missiles, Class II and III UAVs along with RAM munitions.
Credit: Armáda České republiky
To achieve these capabilities, the acquisition of not only new air defence missile systems but also new surveillance radars, BOV 8×8 armoured vehicles (the Slovak variant of the Patria AMV XP armoured personnel carrier), mobile operations centres and communications equipment (L3Harris Falcon IV radio stations, Link 16 terminals) will be required.
The Acquisitions
The Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic proposes to start the implementation of the 1st stage of the procurement immediately, basically for maintaining the current capabilities, with deliveries expected 2025 and 2026. The required numbers of equipment within this stage of the modernisation are one medium-range surface-to-air missile system and 12 very short-range air defence systems/short-range air defence systems in portable configuration (MANPADS). The total estimated costs for the implementation of the 1st stage are approximately EUR 196.5 M EUR including VAT. The funds for the procurement are included in the Programme Plan of the Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic for the years 2024 to 2029, as well as in the budget of the Ministry of Defence for the year 2023, allowing for initial payments after the signing of potential contracts.
The Ministry of Defence recommends the acquisition in a government-to-government (G2G) format, which should better secure product prices for the duration of the contract. The advantages of this approach are seen as increasing the guarantee of delivery of the procured equipment and also providing the opportunity for deeper military cooperation as well as deepening bilateral partnerships at the intergovernmental level.
The implementation of the next stages of the procurement of the air defence firing systems and its timing will depend on the financial situation of the Ministry of Defence and the funds allocated in the subsequent years. According to the current schedule, the acquisition is planned in additional three phases until 2035. However, the precise overall operational requirement will need to be additionally confirmed by the wargame and subsequently implemented in related strategic documents before further stages can be implemented.
Martin Smisek
