The C295 CASA is a Spanish-made military transport and surveillance aircraft that has been used by countless European armies, including the Czech one. The Czech Army has been using this type of aircraft for more than ten years, with one continuously deployed since 2013 in a surveillance mission over the Sinai Peninsula. Since these machines proved reliable, the Czech Army has decided to order two more of them. The two new planes were ordered with state of the art equipment and an upgrade for the already owned fleet of four CASA’s was ordered too. Now, the Czech Military accepted the second new plane and landed it in Kbely yesterday. This plane cost the taxpayers 2.3 billion crowns, but it will protect them as a part of the newly founded 43rd airborne regiment. While the cost may seem like a lot, this money is just a drop in the government defence expenses, which should be way higher. As agreed upon when joining NATO, Czech defense expenses should never go below 2% of the Czech GDP. However, the country has not been fulfilling this pledge since 2005, for which it is often criticized by its western allies. In 2019 the Czech government spent just 1.19% of the Czech GDP on the military. It seems that we will keep disappointing our allies for at least a few more months, as the current government has no known plans to change this embarrassing fact.
