The second Spartan aircraft arriving in Slovakia. (source: SITA)
The second of two Spartan C-27J military cargo aircraft for the Armed Forces has already arrived in Slovakia. It landed at the airbase in Kuchyňa, Záhorie region in western Slovakia, on April 9. Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš (SNS) welcomed it in person along with other representatives of the Defence Ministry and Slovak armed forces.
“This aircraft, as with the first one, is prepared to fulfil tasks linked with domestic as well as international crisis management,” said Gajdoš, as cited by the TASR newswire.
The first Spartan, delivered to Slovakia in late 2017, has already been used for the transportation of material and outfits for the Slovak contingent operating within the UNFICYP peacekeeping mission in Cyprus.
The price of each aircraft is €35.8 million ex VAT. The delivery of the first Spartan by the Italian supplier was delayed but they compensated for this with a discount, meaning a saving for Slovakia of €879,000. The second aircraft was delivered on time. .
The purchase of the two Spartan planes dates back to 2008 when the supplier was selected in a public competition but the agreement was not signed until 2014. Part of the contract includes logistics support, TASR wrote.
The original plan to buy the planes came in the wake of the crash of an An-24 military aircraft close to the Hungarian village of Hejce.
