December 19, 2007: Nearly two years ago, the Czech Republic agreed to buy 199 Pandur II vehicles from General Dynamics (via its Austrian subsidiary, Steyr-Daimler-Puch), for about $1.1 billion. Now they have cancelled the contract. The 15 ton vehicle is similar to the U.S. Army Stryker, and cost about $4 million each. The first 17 vehicles were to be delivered in six months, and the Czechs said progress on this was insufficient, and used that as a reason to back out of the deal. There were also political factors, the main one being a new party in charge of the government now. The new crew believes a different vehicle design was needed. The Pandurs are eight wheel vehicles, and the current thinking is that four and six wheel models would be more suitable.

The Pandur vehicles were to replace Cold War era OT-64s (13 ton wheeled armored vehicles), which are also similar to the Pandur, but pretty much worn out by now. The Czech Pandurs would be, like the Stryker, equipped with better electronics, and things like remote control turrets.