Sikorsky Black Hawk (source: WIKIMEDIA/CC/Sme)
Construction of the training centre is part of the agreement which Slovakia and US firm representatives signed on December 9, the TASR newswire reported.
The Slovak Security Council and the government have approved a contract for the procurement of nine American Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk military helicopters for approximately 261 million US dollars (€236.7 million) in April 2016.
The new helicopters will replace the Russian Mi-17s currently in use, which have come to the end of their technical lives. The new helicopters are multifunctional, according to Air Force Commander Miroslav Korba.
Slovak Defence Minister Martin Glváč also met with Robert Orton Work, the United States Deputy Secretary of Defence and discussed army modernisation projects and Slovak participation in foreign military campaigns.
“We were evaluating the security situation mainly in Europe and the Middle East, but also in the USA,” Glváč said, as quoted by TASR. “Of course he [Work] was very interested in information from our Military Intelligence Service and our evaluation of the current situation in Ukraine.”
