When Czechoslovakia was created with the dissolution of Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I it inherited a large and capable arms manufacturing industry.

This allowed the new state to both design and produce its weapons for domestic use and for export.

After World War II this design and manufacturing experience allowed Czechoslovakia to not only produce Soviet designs under license but to produce equipment for its use and for export to its Warsaw Pact allies.

A consequence of its membership in the Warsaw Pact was that the military hardware it produced used Soviet caliber ammunition.

[1] The vz.53 was designed to fill the same roles as the Soviet 100 mm field gun M1944 (BS-3) and used the same ammunition.