Although six Black Hawk helicopters have been delivered to Slovakia on time, the remaining three will land in the country after 2019, as reported by the TASR newswire.
All nine helicopters were to arrive by the end of this year, but three will land in Slovakia in early 2020. Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš (SNS) said a signed contract allows for a postponed delivery.
“A new deadline has been consulted and approved by mutual agreement, the so-called Letter of Acceptance, based on which the helicopters were ordered,” the minister added, as quoted by TASR.
Related articleUS agrees to sale of Black Hawk helicopters to Slovakia Read more The first UH-60M Black Hawks arrived in Slovakia in the summer of 2017, the latest ones landed in August 2019.
The Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic ordered nine American Black Hawk helicopters for US$261 million in 2015.
Extra military equipment
The minister also said, on December 12, that a project to equip the helicopters with extra armaments is ongoing. Gajdoš mentioned this for the first time in August 2019.
“The Defence Ministry has already defined the requirements for extra armaments and their procurement will follow,” Gajdoš said to TASR.
The flooring of each of the nine Black Hawks will be armoured and two machine guns will be added to each one as well.
The American UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters will replace the Russian Mi-17 helicopters.
13. Dec 2019 at 0:44 | Compiled by Spectator staff
