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The Czech weapons giant replacing the Kalashnikov in Ukraine’s army

The Russian-made Kalashnikov still prevails as the main small arm in Ukraine’s military. A Czech weapons giant is setting up shop in Ukraine’s factories to change that.

The Prague-domiciled conglomerate, Colt CZ, has set up assembly of its Bren 2 assault rifles inside Ukraine under the name “Sich” — the center of life for Zaporizhzhian Cossacks, a historical group of Ukrainian semi-nomadic warriors.

The goal, as Colt CZ’s head of public sector, Ondrej Bohac, put it, is to “get rid of Ukrainian dependence on Soviet weapons, like the AK-47, and not only on the weapons themselves but also on the ammunition, which is still produced mainly in Russia and Belarus.”

Ukraine does not seem close to running through its old stockpiles of ammunition, but as with the conversion from Soviet 122 and 152 mm artillery to NATO-standard 120 and 155 mm, the transition is a long-term Western turn.

The Sich offers swappable components for alternating between Soviet and NATO calibers. Tens of thousands of the assault rifles are already in the hands of Ukrainian soldiers, mostly from Czechia, but they have begun assembly inside of Ukraine.

Many international arms giants have announced plans to build their wares inside of Ukraine, ranging from Rheinmetall to Northrop Grumman to Baykar. Colt CZ is one of the first to set up production, putting the firm in a relative frontier position. Its experience will be a bellwether for NATO-based weapons manufacturers expanding to Ukraine.

Czech arsenal

Colt CZ began its life as Jihoceska Zbrojovka, or the South Czech Armory, shortly after the First World War and the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Renamed to Ceska Zbrojovka, or Czech Armory, it would go on to survive Nazi occupation and Soviet domination and ultimately an invasion by Warsaw Pact soldiers in 1968. In large part thanks to Ceska Zbrojovka, Czechoslovakia would retain an unusually independent military until the fall of the USSR.

Recent years have seen the company expand internationally, most conspicuously in buying the Connecticut-originated Colt brand, the unofficial armory of the American Wild West whose name now sits alongside “CZ” in the company’s title.

Today, Colt CZ can assemble 400 of their Bren 2 Siches per day in Ukrainian factories, according to Bohac. Ukraine’s state-owned defense conglomerate, UkrOboronProm, announced the start of production in December.

The assembly lines are owned and staffed by UkrOboronProm, which, for the time being, is getting components shipped from Colt CZ’s original factories. Colt CZ is, in turn, training the Ukrainian staff and leasing out their assembly method.

It’s an arrangement that is becoming standard for international arms makers looking to set up inside of Ukraine. Many have made announcements of doing so over the past three years, but projects by firms like Rheinmetall or Northrop Grumman, primarily to produce 155 mm artillery ammunition, have stalled out. Colt CZ is among the biggest to have started production, at least partially because the guns are themselves small arms rather than, say, ballistic missiles.

The speed of set-up is also thanks to the geographical and political proximity of Ukraine and Czechia’s own experience under the Soviet heel.

“It shows our commitment to support the industry and actually do things and not only talk about them,” said Bohac.

Gunpowder diplomacy

It has been a complicated road to “the integration of our defense-industrial complex with the industrial chain of NATO nations,” UkrOboronProm’s general director, Oleh Hulyak, said in December.

Ukrainians fear giving over their home turf to foreign business. Foreign companies are wary of Ukrainian law, particularly historically lax local intellectual property, or IP, protections. In their absence, foreign brands are loath to leave their inventions in Ukraine, where they risk being stolen and counterfeited, in some cases by UkrOboronProm itself.

Ukrainian courts are famously unreliable, and their sentences for IP violations often stop at trivial fines.

When asked whether Colt CZ would ever end up fighting for its IP rights in a Ukrainian courtroom, Bohac responded, “Hopefully not — like any other global company, we always prefer that it's resolved in a third-country courtroom.”

The Ukrainian production is starting with just assembly of components manufactured in Colt CZ’s factories in Czechia, protecting the process while the assembly line for Bren 2 Sich rifles expands. UkrOboronProm gets a stake in the sale, and the Ukrainian government gets to buy from the home team.

“It has opened the door to the Ukrainian market because every country prefers to procure from domestic producers,” said Bohac.

It has been a process of diplomacy for Bohac, himself a former Czech diplomat.

The Colt CZ deal is not the first time the Ukrainian military has tried to move its main rifles on to NATO calibers. In 2017, a much-touted rollout of a copy of the American M4 called the WAC-47, which UkrOboronProm announced would have replaceable parts to take both NATO and Kalashnikov-standard ammunition, came to nothing.

Bohac declined to identify exactly how many Siches had been produced locally, citing UkrOboronProm’s rules, but said that something in the “upper tens of thousands” are already in Ukrainian hands and “tens of thousands should be assembled (in Ukraine) this year.”

Colt CZ also envisions more component manufacturing in Ukraine and expansion into other weapons, including their P10 pistols and CZ Scorpion Evo 3.

Among Colt CZ’s latest acquisitions is Sellier & Bellot, another Czech company that’s made ammunition for almost 200 years. Sellier & Bellot makes its own machining tools, which are essential to more localized component manufacturing within Ukraine. The plan, said Bohac, is to expand from assembly to component production using those machines.

“We will provide the IP, the machinery, training, and they will take care of all those components and materials, including the powder,” he said.

The company also has its eyes on greater global output. Post-war, Colt CZ is envisioning selling from Ukraine to other former Soviet states looking to replace their old rifles. But with the war still raging and export controls still fully up, the immediate market will be strictly Ukrainian.

“I mean, it's a beautiful story that we are making here. It's historical. We hope it will be remembered after decades that Czechia, with international donors through our company, was one of the key forces behind the rearmament of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” said Bohac.

Note from the author:

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