Rusek himself delivered news of the eleventh-hour intervention to Czech president Miloš Zeman, who stood up and applauded the Strnads for saving both jobs and national pride.However, without warning in January 2018, CSG announced that it was now controlled by Michal Strnad. Nonetheless, arms production in Czechoslovakia was supposed to be curtailed by 25 percent by 1993. He may not like talking to journalists, but Michal has clearly made peace with the term “arms dealer.” He’ll admit later during our chat, “The truth is that the defense business is 50% of our group, and [over] 50% of our turnover. A new generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs—those who never had to endure communist rule—is rising to the fore, with very different aspirations. Czech President Milos Zeman is a big believer in the Czech arms industry.

Jaroslav saw value in things that others did not.

One was born under communism; the other is a young captain of capitalism.With global power centers in flux, there could soon be more customers coming to Michal’s table. An associate who grew up in a neighboring town talks of how the scrapyard owner from the “small town” near Slatiňany, was “mocked” by the “bosses” of the “real” arms dealers. Tatra CEO Petr Rusek remembers the takeover period and how the Czechs didn’t want to see their icon die. But he’s not working alone. In the early ’90s the country needed capitalist captains who could make do and rise as the country peeked out from behind the iron curtain and the gloom lifted. STV GROUP a.s. was granted the following certificates: EN ISO 9001:2009, AQAP 2110, TRACE Anti-Bribery Compliance Certificate, and all the necessary licences and authorizations issued by the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade to international trade with military material. The CZ P-07 follows the successful CZ 75 P-07 DUTY, while bringing a number of innovative features. The production programme of CZ consists of a balanced portfolio of weapons for the civilian market and service sector, complemented by supplies of high precision engineering products mostly for the automotive and aerospace industries.

I studied at Goldsmiths, University of London and joined from Spear's Magazine, where I covered everything from the Westminster bubble to world of wealth management, private banking, divorce law, alternative assets, tax, tech and succession. Download Share Although the official numbers will only be released by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in several months’ time, all indications are that 2016 was a very good year for the Czech arms industry. Conversion of the arms industry to civilian production was to take place in "a gentle fashion." The company has an excellently equipped factory in Uherský Brod, Czech Republic, where the quality control system according to ISO 9001: 2008 is implemented and certified. Czechoslovak Group (CSG) is a holding company with firm roots in the Czech and Slovak industrial tradition. This solution offers an added bonus of easy disassembly and an extensive use of durable polymer. January 2009 CZ Introduces the Brno Rifles line The Brno Rifles line is the newest brand in the CZ-USA family. Czechoslovak manufactured version of the Austrian 1895, for use on the 1895 Mannlicher originally used by the Czech military. The Strnads could one day find themselves in the position of having, as Michal boasts, “more tanks than the Czech and Slovak armies combined” but unable to win the contracts needed for their export.Following a significant change in the business landscape, global anti-arms organizations have “discussed” whether the publicly announced succession from Jaroslav to Michal is merely “symbolic,” designed to simplify the application process by removing War Dog Jaroslav from the equation entirely.Marek Chromý of Transparency International, a Berlin-based anti-corruption organization, tells Michal’s push to modernize the firm might offer some challenge to CSG’s critics, but unless he makes serious effort to modernize, there’s every chance the cynics will swoop on this being a succession in name only. I sit down with Michal at a table surrounded by a small force of concerned, gray-suited men from, or working on behalf of, his firm. L-159 fighter jets, photo: Czech Army.

CZ (Ceská zbrojovka a.s.) has long been the most important Czech manufacturer of firearms, and at the same time, also one of the most significant arms factories in the world. CZECHOSLOVAK GROUP a.s. Industrial holding. With the increase in the prominence of the Czech arms industry the VZ23 bayonet was made for … He talks with enthusiasm about his own ideas and innovations and a need to “focus on products with our own IP [intellectual property] rights.”The Strnad family handover is about more than a business relationship between father and son, and mirrors the broader changes in the Czech Republic. Czech arms companies have been in the news a lot recently with accusations that some have been exporting equipment to war torn Ukraine. By using our website, you agree that we can place these types of cookies on your device. He nods when I mention the 2% of GDP that NATO leaders promised to spend on defense. We bought more or less everything in Czech Republic and Slovakia.”The guns are running out, the father has walked away, and what the arms dealer might do next is anyone’s guess.

Over/Under rifles, shotguns, combo guns and the … Weapons that Jaroslav Strnad and Excalibur sold to Israeli firm Elbit had immediately arrived in Azerbaijan, which was a violation of the arms Excalibur was forced to go on the defensive, denying wrongdoing and also claiming that the “embargo” on arms exports to Azerbaijan was actually “disputable.”The Azerbaijan controversy thrust the Strnad family to a new level of notoriety both at home and abroad. Even so, he was laughed at when he started out. In 2015 Strnad’s offices After enjoying years of anonymity, Jaroslav’s name was suddenly being mentioned in diplomatic circles around the world.

That is a claim that is largely brushed off by the main industry lobby group which had its sights set on more lucrative markets.

In 2013 they helped save the jewel-in-the-crown business from oblivion and made good money doing so, returning it to profitability in just a year, Michal tells me. It wasn’t the size of the deal, but the depth of his relationship with power.