RE-ARMAMENT OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC ARMED FORCES JUST STARTED.
FINDING THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT FOR THE CZ 805 BREN ASSAULT RIFLE.
We all certainly remember the days when talks concerning the re-armament of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic started and also about the Army of the Czech Republic project. The whole activity went then under the auspices of the Army of the Czech Republic (AČR) project. The fact is that since the signing of contracts with AČR more than a year has passed and when we look back now, it was definitely not an easy period. Weapons along with accessories were subjected to the marathon of tests; we were negotiating changes and alterations on the basis of which the comfort of weapons use was enhanced, concluded amendments to agreements, etc. Here I have to say that thanks to cooperation, positive attitudes, initiative thinking and perpetual élan of CZUB employees all difficulties were solved and the series production start running with manufacture of the following models: the CZ 805 BREN A1 assault rifle, CZ 805 BREN A2 carbine, CZ 805 G1 underslung grenade launcher and CZ Scorpion EVO 3 A1 submachine gun.
A single most pursued product was the CZ 805 BREN A1 assault rifle with the first consignment to the AČR in more than 500 pcs realised at the days of 18th and 19th July 2011. I would therefore like to express my thanks to all those who, despite all the difficulties, spared no efforts and contributed to the successful delivery of weapons to be used by the soldiers of the Czech Republic. We believe that weapons made by CZ will serve to them up to their full satisfaction, and reliably for a long time.
Serial production of a new generation CZ brand service weapons – assault rifles CZ 805 BREN A1, carbines CZ 805 BREN A2, grenade launchers CZ 805 G1 and submachine guns CZ Scorpion EVO 3 A1 and successful delivery to the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic are for CZUB an excellent reference when penetrating to foreign markets. Just these references create a milestone for us as invitations to tenders for armies’ re-armament are concerned. Most of these tenders cover not only weapons but also accessories. A good example is AČR, which purchases this weapon within the programme 21st Century Soldier, which is basically a system of linking weaponry with accessories and other optoelectronic devices used by the unit. A lot has been said and written about the actual weapons, let’s present to you selected accessories to be used with the CZ 805 BREN A1 assault rifle, which form the part of just mentioned 21st Century Soldier.
The CZ 805 BREN A1 assault rifle can be outfitted with the DBAL A2 (Laser Devices, Inc.) supplied to the Army, which is a laser pointer with dual beam. It has visible laser beam VIS POINT, which provides accurate aiming of the weapon in the day and a separate IR POIN/ILLUM for aiming and illuminating of target at night using the night vision equipment.
Another part of the DBAL A2 is illuminator (IR ILLUM), which is equipped with an adjustable bezel to vary the size of the illumination beam based on the size and distance to the target. The illuminator actually behaves like a torch but with a difference that its light beam is visible only to those who have night vision goggles or night vision riflescope as is the NV Mag 3. So the enemy cannot see the light beam. The NV Mag 3 night vision riflescope with 3x magnification is supplied by the Czech company Meopta optika, s.r.o. The weapon made by CZ during army trials when shooting in the night conditions attained a very good results and was praised by soldiers.
The basic sighting equipment consists of ZD-Dot red dot sight featuring electronic regulation of the red dot intensity be it at day or as a night scope auxiliary device.
For increasing efficiency and red dot sight range under daylight it is possible to use daytime scope with a 3x magnification - DV Mag 3.
Devices of this type increase the weapon’s use efficiency several times. Therefore the Department of Military Equipment in collaboration with product managers is constantly expanding sets of recommended accessories for weapons of the CZ brand so we can offer to our customers a weapon having a maximum of comfort.
Another means of support we just work on is so called shoot tracker. The device which allows diagnosing the state of weapon. Such equipment can monitor the amount of ammunition fired, and at the same time detect impending damage to the weapon’s selected components. For logistics and weapon maintenance is this type of device a must for the future. Many armed forces perform under combat conditions preventive replacement of selected components after a certain number of shots. The weapon’s diagnosis is loaded using well-known iPod.
Ing. Petr Vávra
Head of Military Materiel Dept.
Česká zbrojovka a.s.