New air defense system for the Czech Republic will have a range of up to 80 kilometers. The army will test it in the fall

Greater range, missiles flying to different targets and an overall technological leap for the Czech army. This will be brought by the new SPYDER air defense system, which the Czech Republic ordered from Israel four years ago for almost 14 billion crowns. The Pardubice-based company Retia is preparing it for autumn military tests. Czech Radio went to see its security zone, where the assembly of components is taking place.

The protection of Czech airspace will be strengthened. The SPYDER system for the Czech army, which can shoot down enemy aircraft, larger drones or cruise missiles, is almost ready.

“The individual units of the SPYDER system will be assembled here and are essentially being brought to life here. We are entering the final phase of integration, followed by military tests,” describes Jan Mikulecký, CEO of the Pardubice-based company Retia, describing what is happening on the assembly area surrounded by barbed wire, where Czech and Israeli technicians are working.

The Czech Republic has ordered a total of four batteries of the SPYDER air defense missile system from the Israeli company Rafael. Each battery consists of nine trucks with different tasks.

One carries missiles, another radar, another has a container in which operators sit with computers. During the event, not all cars are next to each other, but are spread out around the area, even 10 kilometers apart, and communicate with each other remotely.

“This vehicle controls the fire in the battery. This radar helps it with that,” Retie project manager Oto Šorna points to the individual trucks.

“Of course, there is a variant where the operator is able to fire directly from the vehicle, this is an extreme situation where the vehicle loses connection with its surroundings. It has an optical sight, if the target is detectable in the visible or infrared range, then the vehicle operator can launch the missile himself. Otherwise, the missile launch takes place from higher levels of command,” Šorna specifies.

Next year maybe in Strakonice
Retia has already completed almost half of the contract, which will cost the Czech Republic a total of almost 14 billion crowns, and military tests are planned for this fall.

The army will test whether everything is as it ordered. If the new weapon system holds up, soldiers from the Strakonice anti-aircraft missile regiment will take it over next year.

“Part of the tests is transportability. The army always has a condition that it must be transportable by land, ship and plane. The manual for soldiers must include what to do with it, if they need to remove anything from it. That is what is being tested,” says Strakonice commander Colonel Jaroslav Daverný.

The new SPYDER systems will replace the Soviet KUB machines, which the Czech army has had in service since the 1970s and which have a maximum range of 25 kilometers.

“SPYDER can shoot significantly further, from 30 to 80 kilometers, that’s many times more. It can load up to six types of different missiles,” says Colonel Daverný, adding that it will take 18 months to fully train soldiers on the new technology.