Latvia, Slovakia and Tatra Defence Systems Sign a Trilateral Agreement for Morana 155 mm Howitzers and Rocket Artillery — SAFE Financing
Riga, 30 September 2026
Key points
- Latvia's defence ministry, the government of Slovakia and the Czech company Tatra Defence Systems signed a trilateral agreement on 30 September for the supply of 155 mm Morana artillery systems; the agreement "also covers the supply of rocket artillery systems", type not named
- The ministry plans to finance it through SAFE, the EU's EUR 150 billion defence loan instrument; gradual localisation of production in Latvia is "an important condition" of the agreement, and the ministry cites logistics, maintenance and training gains from a single Tatra vehicle platform
- Neither quantity nor value is published. Czechoslovak Group, parent of Tatra Defence Systems and of Excalibur Army, which designed Morana, puts the project in the hundreds of millions of euros; the howitzer rides the TATRA FORCE 8x8 chassis and its 155 mm weapon is made by ZŤS ŠPECIÁL in Slovakia. Latvian public media report first systems in 2027
- The agreement follows the cabinet's 15 September choice of Morana over the Swedish Archer, for which Latvia had signed an 18-gun letter of intent in June 2025
Two weeks after choosing a Czech howitzer no army yet fields, Latvia has signed for it, and for a rocket launcher it has not named, on one truck.
The cabinet decision of 15 September gave a system and a reason, cost and delivery time; the 30 September agreement gives a financing route, a production condition and a second product line. Raivis Melnis, the defence minister, framed it in industrial terms: "Our goal is not only to acquire modern military equipment, but also to develop local production, service and technological capabilities." Slovakia's deputy prime minister and defence minister, Robert Kaliňák, said Slovak industry would provide "technologically essential components" and hoped the framework could foster wider cooperation. The release does not say in what capacity the Slovak government signed; a SAFE common procurement requires at least two participating states, and Bratislava is the only other government on the page.
The rocket artillery is the new element. Latvia already operates American HIMARS, bought through foreign military sales; a launcher on the same Tatra chassis as the howitzer would give it a second rocket tier, built in the region, under EU loan money, but which launcher and with which rocket the ministry has not said. Latvia's SAFE loan agreement, signed in June, runs to about EUR 3.5 billion to 2030.
The industrial case for Morana, which the ministry made about one howitzer, is now being made about a vehicle family, and that is the stronger version of it. When Großwald recorded the Archer decision, the reading was that Czechoslovak Group was selling a way into a long supply relationship rather than a gun; a howitzer and a rocket launcher on one chassis, assembled partly in Latvia, is that relationship in contract form. What it still lacks is the number that would size it. Signal No. 157 carried the signing beside the Romanian–Polish loitering-munition letter, which is also a SAFE purchase without a quantity.
Related · Latvia's Morana artillery
