The Slovenian Minister of Defence Mr. Matej Tonin proudly presented the Oshkosh JLTV, equipped with the KONGSBERG PROTECTOR RS CROWS Remote Weapon Station (RWS), procured through the US Government Foreign Military Sales. The 38 RWS is under production in Johnstown, Pennsylvania (US), and will be delivered in the fall. The acquisition is first in a series – and Slovenia will procure additional 36 systems in 2021. The event was supported and attended by the Norwegian Ambassador to Hungary and the Republic of Slovenia Trine Skymoen – together with her US counterpart.
“We experienced great support by the Norwegian and US ambassadors. KONGSBERG brought three CROWS stations, which we integrated on the ground in Slovenia,” said Arne Gjennestad, Vice President Marketing & Sales in DLS . “The media event showed that Slovenia is a long and trusted user of KONGSBERG Remote Weapon Stations. They are proud of their systems and very happy with the US-Norwegian cooperation to deliver this capability, which is important for both national and NATO coalition defence.”
The Slovenian modernization of their armed forces will continue with the procurement of 8×8 armored vehicles. Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA)’s Division Land Systems (DLS), supported the Slovenia Ministry of Defence in presenting their new defence capability. The KONGSBERG RT40 unmanned remote-controlled 30 mm gun turret is a strong candidate to be chosen on the preferred vehicle – which presently is the Boxer, made by German companies Rheinmetall and KMW. In Slovenian service, the vehicles will be called LKOV 4×4 (lahkih kolesnih oklepnih vozil, light wheeled armored vehicles).
In October 2018, Slovenia has signed an Intergovernmental Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) with the U.S. Government for the purchase of 38 Oshkosh JLTVs. The value of the contract for the purchase of 38 JLTV vehicles was around 15.7 million euros. Eighteen of the new JLTVs will be delivered to the special operations forces with the remaining 20 units to the medium battalion battle group for the provision of national defense and fulfillment of NATO’s goals of capability for the Slovenian Armed Forces.
