Prague, Jan 21 (CTK) – The Czech National Cyber Security Office (NUKIB) has not approved the documentation for the purchase of the army radar system the Czech Republic wants to buy from Israel, Defence Minister Karla Slechtova (ANO) told the commercial television station Prima on Sunday.
Given the existing conditions, it will not permit their attachment to NATO systems, Slechtova said, adding that she had asked for a new expert report and a new position of a lawyer’s office for the final version of the contract.
When taking up her office in December, Slechtova vowed to check all the large armament contracts.
“Since I have the final position of the NUKIB that under the existing documentation, certification will not be granted, I called a meeting of the Defence Ministry and generals on Friday. I learnt there that one half of ministerial deputies do not have the final agreement and they have the expert reports on its old version,” Slechtova said.
Without the certification from the NUKIB the radars cannot be attached to the NATO system.
If the Czech Republic signed the contract Israel, it would pay for the purchase and import of eight radars that it could not efficiently use, Slechtova said.
She said this was why she had decided that she would have another expert report on the final version of the contract drafted and to commission a new position of a lawyer’s office.
She also asked the Foreign Ministry for its position. Its reply is secret, but it arises from it that the contract with Israel is yet to be modified.
The Czech military is to get eight MADR 3D radars from Israel, which are to replace its outdated Soviet-made radars and enable the military’s control of airspace at the altitude from 100 to 3,000 metres.
The radars are made by the Israeli state company Elta Systems, which produces the Iron Dome system that is capable of not only detecting a missile attack but also assessing the place of impact and liquidate the missile if it threatened to hit a populated area.
The Czech military should gradually receive the radars by 2021.
