Czech Republic to keep using some Soviet-made arms until 2035

The military has been trying to get rid of its Soviet-made equipment and replace it with more modern arms from Western countries since the Czech Republic's accession to NATO 20 years ago, but some Soviet arms will remain in use until 2035, the daily Pravo said on Thursday. So far, the Czech military has only managed to fulfil this goal with the lease of Swedish Gripen fighters. By contrast, the ground and missile forces are only being modernised at a sluggish pace, due to which soldiers must often use old equipment such as the UAZ utility vehicles and the Strela missiles, the paper said.