NEWTOWN, Conn. -- Nearly two years after an earlier deal was nixed the Czech Republic has reached a $125 million government-to-government deal with Israel for the procurement of eight ELM-2084 'Iron Dome' Multi-Mission Radars (MMRs). The agreement, signed on December 5, will see the MMRs delivered to the Czech Defense Ministry over a period between 2021 and 2023. Once in service the new radars will be interoperable with Czech and NATO command-and-control systems.
The ELM-2084 MMRs are used for two of Israel's key air-defense systems - the Iron Dome and David's Sling - as well as the Barak missile system. Produced by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) subsidiary Elta Systems the radars serve as a high-accuracy medium/long-range mobile radar system capable of detecting an array of targets, including drones.
They have been procured by the Czech Republic to meet its Mobile Air Defense Radar (MADR) program requirement. This will see the Army of the Czech Republic's (ACRs) aging Soviet-legacy radar platforms, including the 1970s-legacy P-37 Bar Lock 2-D analog radar and PRV-17 altimeters built in the 1980s, phased out in favor of the ELM-2084s. As part of the deal offset work dispensed to Czech industry forms 30 percent of the contract's value.
The contract signing brings to a close a deal the Czech Republic began working on back in 2014.
An official announcement by the Czech Defense Ministry of a proposed purchase arrangement of the Israeli radars came on December 14, 2016. However, former Defense Minister Martin Stropnicky postponed signing the CZD3.6 billion ($175 million) contract in anticipation of his removal from his then-role as defense minister.
His successor, Karla Slechtova, then announced in March 2018 that her ministry would not sign the contract for eight ELM-2084 MMRs due to questions regarding their interoperability with the NATO air-defense network. Defense Minister Slechtova instead ordered the military police to launch an investigation into the pending purchase.
A fresh procurement was initiated under new Defense Minister Lubomir Metnar in 2019 directly with the Israeli government.
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