CSG Group brings armoured vehicles and UAV engines to MSPO 2026

The Czech defence conglomerate uses Poland's largest arms fair to debut new tactical platforms as Central Europe's rearmament drive accelerates.

By Disrupts Editorial Team Sat, 12 September 2026

A grey Dassault Rafale fighter jet stands amidst extensive silver scaffolding and mechanical arms in a brightly lit aircraft hangar.

CSG Group, the Czech industrial conglomerate with interests spanning armoured vehicles, ammunition, and unmanned systems, will field eight subsidiary companies at the 34th edition of MSPO in Kielce, Poland, from 8 to 11 September. The event, which this year scales to more than 40,000 square metres with a record 1,000-plus exhibitors from 40 countries, has become one of the most strategically watched defence procurement forums in Europe, ranking alongside Eurosatory in Paris as a barometer of European rearmament appetite.

CSG's breadth on display is notable. From heavy logistics trucks and armoured fighting vehicles to artillery ammunition and jet engines for unmanned systems, the group is effectively presenting a vertically integrated land-and-air-support catalogue to buyers across NATO's eastern flank.

New platforms, Polish premieres

Several debuts signal deliberate commercial intent in the Polish market. Tatra Export will give the third-generation Tatra Force 8x8 military truck its Polish premiere. The vehicle, built around an air-cooled twelve-cylinder T3D-930 engine producing 450 kW with an Allison automatic gearbox, can carry up to 25.5 tonnes on a gross vehicle weight of 44 tonnes. Its new extended four-door cabin, developed specifically for military crew requirements, features a digitalised dashboard, a detail that points to the broader integration of digital systems into tactical logistics.

Tatra Defence is bringing the new Tadeas 4x4 armoured vehicle to Kielce for its first Polish outing, alongside a locally co-developed variant: the MTV 6x6 Heron, produced in partnership with Polish state-owned manufacturer Huta Stalowa Wola, and intended for direct supply to the Polish Armed Forces. This kind of in-country production arrangement has become a recurring condition of Central and Eastern European defence procurement, as governments seek to build sovereign industrial capacity alongside purchasing capability.

Excalibur Army will show the Patriot 4x4 armoured vehicle fitted with the Alakran automated mortar system in 81 mm and 120 mm calibre for the first time at MSPO. The company recently secured contracts for more than 100 Patriot 4x4 vehicles in Southeast Asia, demonstrating that Eastern European defence manufacturers are now competing credibly in export markets well beyond the immediate NATO neighbourhood.

MSM Group, the ammunition arm of CSG, will display a wide range of NATO-standard rounds: 155 mm artillery shells from Slovak producer ZVS, tank ammunition in 120 mm and 105 mm from Spanish subsidiary Fábrica de Municiones Granada, and medium-calibre rounds from ZVI Vsetín suited for infantry fighting vehicles and aircraft cannons. The breadth of the MSM catalogue reflects Europe's urgent need to rebuild shell stockpiles drawn down by transfers to Ukraine.

Convergence angle: UAV propulsion and the dual-use supply chain

Perhaps the most strategically forward-looking exhibitor in the CSG stand is AviaNera Technologies, which develops small jet engines for unmanned systems. Its MTJ300-series engine, designed for light UAVs, guided missiles, and training targets, sits at the intersection of two accelerating procurement trends: the scaling of drone fleets across NATO militaries, and the growing industrial requirement for indigenously produced propulsion components.

For cross-sector investors and capital allocators watching European defence, this is the layer that matters. The war in Ukraine has conclusively demonstrated that mass UAV deployment consumes propulsion hardware at a rate that Western supply chains were not structured to meet. Companies able to produce compact, field-reliable jet engines at volume represent a supply-chain gap that sovereign procurement budgets across Poland, the Baltics, and Romania are now actively trying to close. Central European defence manufacturing, long treated as a second tier behind the Franco-German and Anglo-American primes, is being revalued accordingly.

CSG's presence at a fair growing from 769 exhibitors in its 32nd edition to more than 1,000 in its 34th is itself a macro signal: European defence industrialisation is broadening, not just deepening, and the Visegrad-region manufacturers that kept production lines running through the post-Cold War drawdown are now positioned as credible scale partners for NATO's eastern expansion commitments.