Datasel says defence contracts with Estonia exceed 150 million euros

Italian defence supplier Datasel has invited Estonia’s State Defence Investment Centre to talks, saying goods were produced and delivered and that allegations concerning their quality remain disputed, ERR reported. The company also said its data show that the centre has signed contracts with Datasel worth more than 150 million euros.

“Our message is simple: Datasel had the capacity and access to the supply chain to fulfil these contracts. The goods were produced, inspected and delivered or made available for collection, while subsequent allegations concerning quality and contract termination remain disputed,” the company said in a statement.

Datasel added that no court or arbitration tribunal had yet ruled on the issues.

The company said the contract figures represented engineers, factory teams and specialised suppliers who had invested time, materials and capital in good faith. Goods held in warehouses were generating additional costs, it said, arguing that the work should be completed safely and transparently rather than allowing a resolvable commercial dispute to become a lengthy legal process.

Datasel said public discussion had focused on a single contract worth 70 million euros, which it said was inaccurate.

The National Audit Office had referred to a disputed procurement volume of 71.6 million euros across all suppliers and an advance payment of 59.8 million euros to the largest supplier, Datasel said. Former Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur had separately described the amount linked specifically to Datasel as approximately 60 million euros.

According to Datasel’s contract and accounting records, the value of its contracts with the State Defence Investment Centre exceeded 150 million euros. Advance payments accounted for about 59 million euros, while the value of goods delivered and invoiced was approximately 58 million euros, the company said.

Datasel said the centre and the company had exchanged enquiries, written offers, technical information and contract terms over several months. The company had disclosed its supply chain, manufacturing sources, countries of origin, product locations and technical capacity, it said.

A preliminary purchase agreement preceded the final contracts, and representatives of the centre visited relevant production facilities before placing the order and carried out additional inspections during the contract period, Datasel said.

The company said the centre had later stated that its current team could not find documentation showing how initial contact with Datasel had been established or how the company had been selected.

“This obvious gap in the centre’s document management is not evidence that Datasel concealed information or that the subsequent months of negotiations and inspections did not take place,” the company’s representative said.

Datasel described itself as an Italian defence industry supplier established in 2005. It said its technical foundation was based on the experience of founder and continuing technical associate Sandro Pazzini, as well as an industrial network whose previous work at established European defence companies had included large and high-value programmes.

In 2024, Datasel acquired Neco Defence Munitions, adding industrial resources and broader group experience in metallurgy, casting, precision engineering and ultra-precision machining, the statement said.

Datasel says its website does not show its full capacity

Datasel said it operates as a supplier, manufacturer and integrator through established production partners, including experienced ammunition component manufacturers that are active and supply other European defence customers.

“This networked model is common in modern defence industry. A company’s website or historical employee count is not a reliable indicator of the industrial capacity available through its contractual supply chain,” Datasel said.