152mm artillery ammunition. — MIL.IN.UA/FLICKR
Still wary of Russia, their Soviet-era master, some former Warsaw Pact countries see helping Ukraine as a matter of regional security. It now plans to invest up to 8 billion zlotys over the next decade, more than double its pre-war target, Mr. Chwalek told Reuters. That includes new facilities located further from the border with Russia’s ally Belarus for security reasons, he said.
Mr. Chwalek said PGZ would now produce 1,000 portable Piorun manpad air-defense systems in 2023 — not all for Ukraine — compared to 600 in 2022 and 300 to 350 in previous years. “The Czech Republic was one of the powerhouses of weapons exporters and we have the personnel, material base and production lines needed to increase capacity,” its NATO Ambassador Jakub Landovsky told Reuters.