Slovenia will cancel the contract for the purchase of boxer armored vehicles

Minister of Defense Marjan Šarec explained at the press conference that the government today became familiar with the report on the audit of the expediency of the purchase of eight-wheeled boxers and decided that Slovenia should withdraw from the mentioned program.

The Ministry of Defense will have to notify the Organization for Cooperation in Common Armaments (OCCAR) about the termination of the contract and prepare a new solution for the formation of the capabilities of the medium battalion battle group and the medium combat reconnaissance battalion by the end of this year. In doing so, he must pursue the goal of saving at least 400 million euros.

The costs of terminating the contract amount to about 20 percent of the value of the contract, that is, about 70 million euros, Šarec said.

The audit was completed last week, it was first examined by the Ministry of Defense, and then presented to the government. The contract, which was signed on May 11 this year, also includes a logistics package, development costs and project management costs, but does not include communication equipment, which, according to estimates, means an additional 13.5 million euros without VAT.

According to Šarc, a possible escalation clause, which can be up to 2.8 percent per year, and some administrative costs must be added to the total value.

The government should have found an alternative immediately after the revision of the procedure began. Instead of boxer armored vehicles, you could choose Polish KTO rosomak armored vehicles, which, according to experts, have the same level of protection against projectiles and good references from Afghanistan, and are also cheaper.

The new government announced the review of the purchase of 45 boxer armored vehicles, which should cost Slovenia more than 340 million euros, even before it took power. The then Minister of Defense resigned Matej Tonin signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the Boxer program within the framework of the Organization for Cooperation on Common Armaments (OCCAR) on May 11 and emphasized that “with the signing, we are finally where we should have been 15 years ago”.

The outgoing government was also supported by the president and the commander-in-chief of the defense forces when signing the memorandum for this investment. Borut Pahorwho said that we should not delay the purchase any longer.

Pigeon after Tonin’s signature: A normal and good master would not cause economic damage to the country

Robert Dove was critical of the outgoing defense minister’s move. As he said: “A normal and good master would not cause economic damage to the country.” At that time, he also announced the use of all legal means. “Having said that, our position is very clear that we do not support this purchase due to changed circumstances – because circumstances have changed compared to the period when this purchase decision was made in the past – and we will use all legal means to enforce these views of ours, then every normal good boss would take this into account and not cause economic and economic damage to his country.” he said.

The Left has been warning for a long time that buying boxers is irrational. After signing the memorandum, it is Matej T. Vatovec said that the purchase of armored vehicles is illegitimate because the government should only be conducting ongoing business. Levica already assessed in May that there are serious legal grounds for canceling the deal, if it goes through. According to Vatovčev, the Svoboda Movement, SD and Levica also agreed that Slovenia does not need Boxer vehicles, especially not at a time when citizens are faced with high prices of food, energy and fuel. “This purchase is irrational and unnecessary at this moment. Accumulating an additional almost 400 million euros for the state budget is suicide from the point of view of public finances,” he emphasized in May.

Above all, the price of the project is controversial

All the time, the price of the project, which has been disputed since the initial talks during the government’s mandate, was in dispute Mira Cerar doubled in 2017 from the then 207 million euros for 56 armored vehicles to 412 million for 45 armored vehicles, the parties Levica, SD, LMŠ and SAB warned.

Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence Uros Lampret however, in the discussions on this issue, he always emphasized that the estimated value of the project is indeed 412 million euros, but “for the purchase of 53 boxer vehicles, appropriate logistical support, spare parts, maintenance and tools, systems integration, testing, training, documentation, acquisitions, combat ammunition kits, simulators, participation in development and administrative costs”.

Tonin then explained at the beginning of May that Slovenia will pay 240 million euros for armored vehicles with armaments, and that the rest of the purchase price will be used for spare parts, training and maintenance of boxers (40 million euros) and payment of VAT (61.9 million euros) ). At the signing of the memorandum, the government agreed to assume obligations to the budgets for the period 2022-2026, which according to the contract would amount to 343.43 million euros including VAT.

The value of the contract without VAT is 281,500,000 euros and is divided into:

– 45 BKV 8 x 8 (vehicles with installed weapons station and equipment): 238,778,200 euros without VAT;

– basic logistics package (documentation, training, spare parts package, basic tools and test equipment): 23,474,560 euros without VAT;

– development costs and project management costs: 19,247,240 euros excluding VAT.

Tonin: It is an extremely harmful decision

In response, Tonin assessed that “it is an extremely harmful decision by Golob’s government, which has no expert arguments, but only stubborn political evidence that it opposes the decisions of the previous government”.

“The audit did not show any errors, which was clear from the beginning, because we worked precisely and professionally. Now they pulled the uneconomical out of the heel veins by comparing pears and plums. It is clear that the boxer is a more expensive vehicle, because it is the most modern vehicle .”

As he added, the decision to cancel the contract was clearly made before the formation of the government, since the audit did not reveal any errors. In response, Šarec said that they did not look for errors in the audit, but determined the expediency of the purchase. They also found that the most expensive possible option was chosen.

Even after the audit was announced, Tonin estimated that withdrawing from the business would cost us our international reputation. “The contract is signed both on the Slovenian side and on the side of OCCAR, which also signed the contract with the manufacturer. It is always a practice in the business world that when a contract is withdrawn, there are also penalties. These vehicles are the backbone of the Slovenian Army,” was decided in May.

At that time, he also announced that there were talks in NATO about how they would increase defense spending to two percent of GDP, and added that Finland and Sweden would also join, and Germany should also increase defense spending, he said. “Under these circumstances, withdrawing from the contract would be absolutely incomprehensible and in some way Slovenia’s credibility would suffer,” the then Minister of Defense also said about the purchase.

Polish wolverines instead of boxers?

As already mentioned, the Ministry of Defense will have to prepare a new solution. The government should have found an alternative immediately after the revision of the procedure began. We already reported in July that it was supposed to be Polish KTO rosomak armored vehicles, but the Ministry of Defense did not want to answer questions about the alleged purchase talks at that time.

However, former Minister of Defense Tonin was critical of the alternative choice, saying that the Polish vehicle reached its peak in the previous decade, which is also the reason for the short-term lower price. Tonin says that the army will have to replace the vehicle already in the medium term. He also said that boxer vehicles are more powerful and offer better protection, and above all, they enable the integration of modern systems and a remote-controlled battle station.

The former Chief of the General Staff said at the time that Polish eight-wheelers have good references from Afghanistan Have a good Christmas. At that time, he also responded to Tonin’s criticisms Klemen Grošelj, a former secretary in the Department of Defense. He wrote that both vehicles – both the boxer and the wolverine – have the same level of protection against projectiles (up to 14.5 millimeters).

In July, the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defense responded to some information that the purchase of boxers was connected to donations to Ukraine. Damir Črnčec. “I would like to deny public statements that the purchase of boxers is in any way connected with Slovenia’s donations to Ukraine,” he asserted.