Central European defence companies are negotiating new deals to sell more weapons, military equipment and related services in Africa as they seek to poach customers looking for alternatives to Russia, companies and government officials say, Ednews informs via Reuters.
Though now part of the Western NATO alliance, former Warsaw Pact members such as the Czech Republic, then part of Czechoslovakia, delivered a steady supply of weapons to African countries during the Communist era and so are well-placed to maintain or upgrade those systems.
"The best new markets are the African ones because they still use Soviet-era equipment but now want Western technology added to it," Jiri Hynek, president and director of industry trade group the Defence and Security Industry Association of the Czech Republic, told Reuters.
"We call it the westernization of Soviet products."
Take Czech aircraft maker Aero Vodochody. The company is in talks to sell its L-39NG training and light attack aircraft to new buyers as well as provide upgrades for older versions, its executive vice president of sales Filip Kulstrunk told Reuters.
"We see increasing interest from new potential customers, who are looking to abandon Russian or Chinese equipment and wish to westernize their armed forces," he said, declining to give details on which countries it was talking to.
The Czech Republic in 2022 exported ammunition, guns, aircraft and other military supplies valued at around 32 million euros to 10 sub-Saharan African countries, many which rely on Soviet-era weapons manufactured with different standards and calibres than those used in the West. This was up from just under 2 million euros in 2011.