The Czech Defence Ministry definitively approved the purchase of eight multipurpose UH-1Y Venom and four attack AH-1Z Viper helicopters from the United States worth 14.6 billion crowns and wants to sign the contract by the end of the year, Minister Lubomir Metnar (for ANO) told the cabinet.
The Czech military should get all 12 American helicopters in 2023, he said. The price will be 17.7 billion VAT including. Metnar said the military preferred the safest and most transparent kind of purchase, a purchase on the government level, and it will buy them for the price that the U.S. Army would pay.
"The military badly needs new helicopters. We need to replace the current Mi-24 that are getting close to the limits of their lifespan. And we need to get independent of the Russian provenience," Metnar said.
He said Czech defence industry may participate in more than 30 percent of the helicopter contract.
Last June, the Czech Republic received from the U.S. administration two offers: eight Venoms and four Vipers, or 12 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters worth 13.2 billion crowns.
Metnar previously pointed out that the systems of the Venom and Viper helicopters from the Bell company are compatible and 85 percent of their spare parts are identical.
