First he was fascinated by a military parade by the Vietnamese People's Army, which he saw in person. Then he remembered a military parade by the Slovak armed forces, which he had seen on TV a month and a half earlier.
In October 2008, just a few months after the resignation of his nominee as defence minister, František Kašický, after news emerged of a series of overpriced ministry tenders for cleaning that would cost the state billions of Slovak crowns (i.e. tens of millions of euros), the then (and now) prime minister, Robert Fico, returned from Vietnam seething with criticism at the Slovak armed forces.
"Put billions of crowns into the military and see guys who can't march. These are processes that we will not support," he commented, disparaging Slovak servicemen and women. He then firmly rejected any significant increase in spending on defence in the state budget for the following year.
"We want to cut spending, not increase it, and even the military could do with fewer troops," he said, telling soldiers that they did not even know how to march. "He was appalled," a source close to the prime minister said at the time.
Although Fico rarely speaks about foreign policy without mentioning Slovakia's "national interests", and peppers his speeches with variations of the word "sovereign", throughout his political career he has quite consistently preferred to spend state money on departments other than defence.
As recently as 2023, Fico remained critical of spending on defence, going so far as to make even harsher comments than fifteen years before during his first government – despite the significant change in the security environment in Europe nine years after Russia's annexation of Crimea and a year and a half after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.
"Armament at the expense of the people" was the headline on a chart that then-opposition leader Fico used in July 2023 to call the modernisation of the armed forces "sabotage". He argued that the spending meant an end to social policies and would not be necessary if Slovakia kept its old Russian weaponry, such as the S-300 air defence system that Eduard Heger's government had donated to Ukraine in 2022.
With the exception of annual defence spending of 2.05 percent of GDP in 2023, no Slovak government since the country joined NATO in 2004 had honoured its commitment to finance defence at the level of at least 2 percent of the country’s GDP.
The biggest drop in spending occurred during the global financial crisis after 2009; later, state spending on defence started growing, mainly under pressure from the United States in response to Russia's occupation of Ukraine's Crimea and Donbas regions.
Fico's Smer party has been governing the country for 13 of the last 20 years since Slovakia's accession to NATO, during which time they also had exclusive control of the Finance Ministry. The party thus bears the greatest responsibility for the current state of Slovakia’s armed forces.
Smer nominees led the Defence Ministry for nine of its 13 years in power; during the remaining four years the department was controlled by Smer's governing partners in the nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS). For the first two years of NATO membership, defence was managed by nominees of the centre-right Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) of Mikulas Dzurinda, in 2010-2011 by the centre-right Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party, and in 2020-2023 by OLaNO, a populist movement.
Over the long term, the armed forces, despite being the most trusted institution of the state, has gradually built up an investment debt that, even with a long-term increase in defence spending, will not be overcome for at least two decades.
The SME daily looked at the main defence systems that Slovakia currently has, or is expecting to receive soon.
In mid July 2024, a US Air Force F-16 fighter jet landed at the military airport in Kuchyňa and successfully tested the newly-installed BAK-12 arrestor system, which is a cable system on the runway that a fighter jet can hook onto in case its brakes fail. The first two brand-new F-16s, produced in the US for the Slovak armed forces, arrived a week later.
According to the Defence Ministry, the home base of the fighters, the 81st Wing at Sliač, in central Slovakia, is only at the beginning of reconstruction to prepare its infrastructure for new aircraft, following decades during which the airfield serviced Soviet-made MiG-29 fighters. It is supposed to be available to host F-16s within three years at the earliest.
While the contracts for fighter and helicopter aviation together constitute the most costly items of modernisation so far, these machines are already in Slovakia (Blackhawk helicopters, Spartan transport aircraft) or are coming (F-16s), the question of the replacement of trainer aircraft remains open.
Fico and his Smer party criticised the donation of Slovakia’s previous fighter wing, comprising MiG-29 jets, to Ukraine in 2023. Arguing that the decision had weakened Slovakia's defensive capabilities, they accused the then prime minister, Eduard Heger, and his defence minister, Jaroslav Nad, of treason.
The fact is that by that time even the handful of MiGs that were still airworthy had already been grounded due to an inability to service and operate then during the embargo on military cooperation with Russia, following its invasion of Ukraine. Thus, the role of airspace protection was no longer fulfilled by the MiGs after the summer of 2022.
Their demise was accelerated by the government of Smer, SNS and Most-Híd in 2018, when, in addition to approving the purchase of F-16s, it definitively ended the training of new pilots for the MiGs. By the end of their operation, Slovakia had only one to three available pilots. New pilots were being trained to fly the soon-to-arrive F-16s.
To this day, politicians of the 2018-20 government of Peter Pellegrini (Smer) have not properly explained why the state chose American Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 fighter jets over JAS 39 Grippen aircraft offered by Swedish defence contractor Saab.
In fact, most other countries had already contracted to acquire fifth-generation F-35 aircraft by that time. The purchase of F-16s was most strongly promoted by the otherwise strongly pro-Russian and anti-American SNS, although Prime Minister Fico had earlier claimed that he preferred a "European solution", i.e. the Grippens.
The government's proposal to purchase the aircraft – representing the largest arms contract in Slovakia’s history, with a price tag of more than €1.6 billion – was published by the Defence Ministry under the leadership of Petr Gajdoš (SNS) only on the eve of the cabinet meeting to consider it and even the expert public did not get a chance to assess the contract.
The first two F-16s arrived at Kuchyňa airport in the second half of July 2024 after delivery delays caused by a lack of chips during the pandemic. One was a single-seat C-type and the other was a two-seat D-type.
After taking office in October 2023, Defence Minister Robert Kaliňák (Smer) publicly mused about buying four more fighter jets, in addition to the 14 already contracted.
In 2015, after Defence Minister Martin Glváč (Smer) signed Slovakia's largest arms contract at that time, with the US for the delivery of nine UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters at a cost of almost €230 million, the machines began arriving in Slovakia without armaments.
On the one hand, Slovakia had modernised its helicopter aviation wing after a years-long gap following the retirement of old Soviet-made Mi-8 and Mi-24 combat aircraft – but on the other hand, the new choppers’ lack of armaments meant that in the ensuing years they could serve only in search-and-rescue and transport roles.
This was to change before the 2020 general election, when the defence ministry announced the purchase of machine guns for the helicopters. In 2021, the MoD ordered two more units at a cost of €65 million, including armaments, thanks to a €50-million grant from the United States Support Fund. These should arrive in Slovakia in 2025.
The helicopter wing of the Slovak Air Force is based at Prešov airbase in eastern Slovakia.
It is not yet known how Minister Kaliňák will approach the possibility of buying AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters. A year ago, former Minister Nad announced that the US had offered to supply $1-billion worth of these helicopters for just $340 million.
The Smer party criticised the possibility of buying these helicopters during the 2023 election campaign. After taking office, Kaliňák tried to negotiate with the US the possibility of buying other equipment on similarly favourable terms. However, SME learned at the beginning of this year that the Defence Ministry had not ruled out purchasing the Vipers if Slovakia did not receive an alternative offer.
The purchase of tactical transport aircraft in 2008 became the country's largest arms procurement to date. At the time, the government agreed to buy two machines from Italian manufacturer Alenia, but even in 2014, the Defence Ministry did not want to disclose any details of their procurement. Defence Minister Martin Glváč claimed that the contract cost Slovakia €99 million.
Both the opposition and experts at the time expressed doubts as to why the Italian machines won the competition. Among the unsuccessful bidders were Lockheed Martin, Airbus and Boeing.
The delivery of the machines was expected by 2017 and 2018, but Slovakia lacked any hangars large enough to house them. The aircraft replaced Antonov An-26 transport aircraft dating from 1982.
The Spartans operate from the Kuchyňa air base near the western-Slovak town of Malacky.
The lack of traditional subsonic military trainer aircraft has become something of a crisis in Slovakia for years. At the beginning of 2024 only two L-39 Albatros aircraft – CM and ZAM versions – were airworthy.
The Defence Ministry after 2020, under the leadership of Jaroslav Nad, mentioned several aircraft that could replace the machines. At the 2022 South Korea trade fair, supersonic FA-50 trainers, which are also used by Poland, were also presented.
Another option is the new version of the Czech Albatros, with the designation L-39NG.
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has shown how crucial the country's ability to defend itself against missile, aircraft and drone attacks is to the defence of military and strategic objectives.
Following the invasion, Slovakia began debating whether it should donate its own Soviet-made S-300 long-range air defence system to Ukraine. Its neighbour already operated the system and so was familiar with the technology. The decision was taken within weeks and the system was sent to Ukraine in April 2022.
"Donating the multi-million-dollar S-300 air defence system to Ukraine is an act of war with unprecedented consequences for Slovakia," Fico claimed at the time, and has made similar statements to this day.
The S-300 system and other air defence systems were in fact limited, in that they were able to protect only a fraction of Slovakia's territory. The S-300 system was located in Nitra, to provide protection for the nuclear power plants in Jaslovské Bohunice and Mochovce, as well as the capital, Bratislava.
In fact, earlier government documents had already deemed the expense of operating the S-300 to be unsustainable and, after the imposition of sanctions on Russia, unfeasible, as Slovakia was dependent on Russian assistance to maintain the system.
In 2013, in the White Paper on Defence – one of the strategic documents guiding the further development of the armed forces – then minister Martin Glváč (Smer) stated that the army needed to replace its air defence systems.
The Smer government was supposed to do this after 2016, but no plan ever materialised. Defence Minister Nad, while defending the donation of the S-300, claimed that the system was by then already unusable without further technical interventions. The fact is that the 11th Air Force Brigade in Nitra fired practice rounds from the system for the first and only time in 2015. Slovakia held only a limited number of interceptor missiles.
The situation when Slovakia did not have sufficient air defence thus did not start with the donation of the S-300. Slovakia also sent to Ukraine ageing 2K12 Kub short-range systems and also shoulder-launched Igla very short-range systems.
At the time of the donation, however, Minister Nad's communication gave the impression that Patriot systems manned by allied soldiers would continue to rotate through Slovakia for a long time, providing airspace protection. Later, however, they gradually withdrew, after assessing the risks and citing logistical reasons. Smer has used this circumstance politically, with Defence Minister Robert Kaliňák comparing Slovakia's defensive capabilities to "a naked toddler in the middle of a meadow".
It is only in the last two years that the defence department has moved more significantly towards the process of procuring new systems. The preliminary plan was approved as one of its last decisions by the caretaker administration of Ludovít Ódor in 2023.
The armed forces have 54 shoulder-fired 9K38 Igla systems with a range of five kilometres. They are fast approaching the end of their service life. According to material approved in the fall during a meeting of the Ódor government, a group of experts proposed replacing the Igla kits with Piorun systems made by Poland's Mesco.
The ministry said at the time that the Piorun was similar to the Igla system but had three times its firepower.
Slovakia is protected by only three 2K12 Kub air defence units, a 40-year-old Soviet-made system which has a limited range of up to 24 kilometres and can strike targets at an altitude of up to 14 kilometres.
There are also two short-range Mantis systems in Slovakia from October 2023 to protect objects in eastern Slovakia. These were donated by Germany.
Slovakia does not currently have any system of its own that would be able to ensure the protection of a wider area. However, the Ódor government selected the Barak MX system from the Israeli company IAI for procurement.
This is a modular system – one that can be changed and used as a long-range system by varying the components. The list price is €128 million.
The SME daily reported earlier this year that the current leadership of the Defence Ministry has taken a positive stance towards it.
However, the ministry has also flirted with the possibility of considering buying other systems – specifically, the US Patriot long-range system, the US-Norwegian NASAMS system, or a South Korean system – despite two years of analysis by experts.
"At the last minute, the Israeli system, the Norwegian system and the Korean system are now being considered, because all the others are unavailable to us not only because of the price, but also because the delivery period is five years or more," Kaliňák said in May.
In the case of the Patriots, however, the minister acknowledged that US production capacities are full for years to come and Slovakia would probably have to wait until the next decade to receive the systems.
Slovak ground forces operate with three types of artillery weapons. There are 24 RM 70/85 Modular rocket launchers, which Slovakia bought and acquired in the decade after 2000.
In addition, 16 Zuzana 2000 self-propelled howitzers made by the Slovak state-owned manufacturer Konštrukta Defence are also in service. In 2018, the Smer government ordered 25 further Zuzana 2 howitzers from the company, which is based in Dubnica nad Váhom.
The last six units of this order are to be delivered to the armed forces by November 2025, according to the latest information. Their delivery has been delayed in part due to Konstrukta's contract with Ukraine to supply the same type of howitzers.
After joining NATO, Slovakia committed itself to building a heavy armoured brigade. This commitment is mentioned in all planning and strategic materials of the Defence Ministry across the different political leadership and across all governments.
However, the commitment has yet to be fulfilled. The last deadline for fulfilling the commitment was set for 2026, but Slovakia will not meet this deadline either. A former defence minister, Martin Sklenár, said he considers 2035 to be a realistic date.
Mechanised brigades are an essential element of all armed forces and their most costly components are tanks and armoured wheeled and tracked vehicles.
The contracts negotiated by the defence department, once approved by the government in the 2020-2024 parliamentary term, envisage spending in excess of even the ticket price for the F-16 fighter jets – they will be worth more than €2 billion.
Of the original equipment, the ground forces now officially have 30 pieces of Soviet-era T-72M1 tanks, albeit in a modernised version produced in the northern-Slovak city of Martin. In reality, only a fraction of these are combat-ready, according to data from 2019.
In addition, an unspecified number of BVP-1 and BVP-2 infantry fighting vehicles should be available. Thirty BVP-1s have been donated by Slovakia to Ukraine. These vehicles also include modified BVP-1s referred to as OT-90 armoured personnel carriers.
After the donation of the BVPs to Ukraine, Slovakia received 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks from the German government, which are significantly more modern than the T-72. However, their production also dates back to the 1980s, although the version delivered to Slovakia has already been modernised.
They serve with the tank battalion in Trebišov, eastern Slovakia.
At the same time, the Defence Ministry under the current leadership has announced its intention to procure mainly battle tanks. The Denník N daily reported in May that the order could be for up to a hundred units. However, the ministry did not specify details regarding the models under consideration, the price or the timetable for the purchase.
The contract for new tracked vehicles is the largest defence contract of the last parliamentary term and the largest arms contract for the ground forces in history, worth €1.7 billion.
Slovakia has ordered 152 units of the CV90 MkIV made by the Swedish subsidiary of BAE Systems. The Ministry of Defence expects the first deliveries in 2026. Slovak companies are also involved in the production. Among the partners are, for example, ZTS – Speciál, Koval Systems, Ray Service, Virtual Reality Media (VRM) and EVPÚ.
The ground forces are expected to soon start receiving 8-wheel-drive armoured fighting vehicles from the Finnish manufacturer Patria. The total price of the contract, including logistics, infrastructure and ammunition, is €447 million, the purchase was approved by the government in the era of minister Jaroslav Nad.
Production of the first eight vehicles is contracted to take place in Finland, after which the contract envisages the transfer of production to Slovakia. This happened at the beginning of 2024, in cooperation with the company CSM Industry in Tisovec, central Slovakia.
Slovakia has ordered 76 units, the first of which arrived in Slovakia last year.
The contract for 160 units of this multi-purpose light combat vehicle, manufactured by US company Oshkosh, was awarded by the Ministry of Defence under the leadership of Martin Sklenár in the summer of 2023. The €190-million cost of vehicles is being covered by a grant from the United States.
The US began developing the vehicle as a replacement for the Humvee infantry vehicle after its experience in the Iraq War.
The history of the armed forces since the foundation of Slovakia is also the story of the underfunding of national defence. All ministers of defence have pointed to a lack of money, yet numerous scandals and dubious purchases have plagued the Defence Ministry, siphoning off additional resources.
Back in 2005, during the second government of Mikuláš Dzurinda and Defence Minister Juraj Liška (SDKÚ), a contract for the purchase of a mobile communication system for the armed forces was awarded. The state ordered the MOKYS system from BAE Systems for 6.5 billion Slovak crowns (approximately €215 million), although a significantly lower offer had been made by the French company Thales.
The ministry suddenly changed the tender conditions so that the decision was not based on price, but on "logistical support".
The system, which is supposed to allow the army to communicate and connect to the internet via its own network, was not in full operation until 2021.
During the first government of Robert Fico, the Defence Ministry launched a tender for cleaning services, for which Minister František Kašický eventually resigned.
The overpriced contract, which included snow shovelling for 1.5 billion Slovak crowns, interior cleaning for 900 million Slovak crowns and 1.5 billion Slovak crowns for summer cleaning of barracks (approximately €130 million in total), was among the biggest scandals of the first Fico government (2006-2010).
Companies close to the ruling parties also entered the tenders. One was a company with ties to a Smer municipal politician Martin Borgula, another was led by the son of a minister for the then co-governing Slovak National Party (SNS), Ján Chrbet.
During the first Smer government (2006-2010), the Defence Ministry needed to buy motorboats for the army, as 23 of its 24 Soviet-made boats had failed usability tests.
In the end, it bought six Zodiac boats for 4.6 million Slovak crowns – but without engines. The boats were thus unusable for the needs of the armed forces.
During the operation of its MiG-29 fighter aircraft, Slovakia depended on the Russian Federation – specifically the Russian state company RSK MiG and its technicians at Sliač airbase – to keep the machines airworthy.
However, for a long time there was also an intermediary between the Ministry of Defence and Russia – the Willing company, which was formerly owned by Miroslav Výboh, a friend of Robert Fico.
Willing received millions of euros from the contracts. However, it is not possible to quantify a more specific amount from public sources, as many of the contracts are classified.
This article was written in the framework of The Eastern Frontier Initiative (TEFI) project. TEFI is a collaboration of independent publishers from Central and Eastern Europe, to foster common thinking and cooperation on European security issues in the region. The project aims to promote knowledge sharing in the European press and contribute to a more resilient European democracy.
Members of the consortium are 444 (Hungary), Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland), SME (Slovakia), PressOne (Romania), and Bellingcat (The Netherlands).
The TEFI project is co-financed by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
Dzisiejsza gazeta (e-wydanie)
