STV GROUP a.s.

STV GROUP a.s. is the only manufacturer of large-calibre ammunition left in the Czech Republic, and it puts that on its own front page. The claim rests on Policka. Ammunition has been made there since 1920, when the First Military Ammunition Factory was built in the Boriny district deliberately far from the borders of the newly formed Czechoslovakia, and the 2015 consolidation of STV GROUP with Policske strojirny turned that inheritance into the country's largest ammunition producer. The company is family owned with entirely Czech capital, sits inside the STV INVEST holding, and has grown quickly enough on rearmament demand to rank among the ten largest corporate taxpayers in the country. The first item designed and built at Policka was a hand grenade in 1921. Management has said publicly that it expects the current level of demand to hold for another ten to fifteen years, which is the reasoning behind the capacity work now running at Policka and at the group's site in the Frydlant region.

Ammunition is the core. The catalogue covers small calibre from the STV Technology plant, medium calibre, mortar rounds, tank rounds, and artillery ammunition in 122 mm for the D-30 gun and the 2S1 Gvozdika, in 152 mm and in 155 mm, alongside 122 mm GRAD rockets and the M4A2 driving cartridge. Rocket propelled ammunition adds rounds for the RPG-7 and 73 mm ammunition for the SPG-9 and the 2A28 gun. Explosive reactive armour blocks come off the same site, and a modular loitering munition line now sells drones, FPV ammunition and fuzes that customers configure by payload. Demilitarization and ecological disposal closes the other end of the life cycle. Explosives are run as a separate business covering plastic explosives, industrial explosives and engineer ammunition.

Military vehicles are the second half of the company. Six repair halls at Policka carry more than 250 workers and push over a hundred vehicles a year through overhaul, taking in BVP-1 and BVP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, T-55 and T-72 M1 tanks, BM-21 and RM-70 GRAD rocket launchers and the 152 mm DANA vz. 77 self-propelled howitzer on its Tatra 8x8 chassis, with roughly 90 percent of the work done in house, a firing range on site and a welding robot developed with the Czech Technical University. Firearms are a smaller line drawing on Czech and Soviet designs, including the MK67 and M-17B semi-automatic rifles, the vz. 58 P/V and M-17 assault rifles, and the KPVT 14.5 mm machine gun. Four further units surround the core. Fenix Protector covers tactical equipment and ballistic protection, STV Trans handles ADR transportation of dangerous goods, DEUS Automation does industrial automation, and Policske strojirny builds pneumatic components for mass transit door systems plus custom machines. Buying the Slovak firm MATADOR Industries, now STV Machinery, was about floor space to build new combat vehicles rather than only refurbish old ones.