WARSAW, Poland — As Slovak officials ponder the purchase of new attack helicopters, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Robert Kaliňák has announced Bratislava has received two new offers from the United States, allowing the nation to choose between 12 AH-1Z Viper helos and 12 upgraded UH-60 Black Hawk copters.
“Now it is important to make a decision in an efficient and quick manner. I think that we will have the results of these analyses in the coming days,” Kaliňák said, as quoted by the state-run news agency TASR.
Last July, the U.S. State Department approved a tentative foreign military sale of 12 Vipers, manufactured by Bell, to Slovakia for an estimated $600 million. This represented a solid increase compared with the initial offer of $340 million pitched to the previous Slovak government. That discount was partly due to the fact that a contract with Pakistan, the initially envisioned recipient of the aircraft, had fallen through.
Meanwhile, as Slovakia’s incumbent Cabinet has hesitated to buy the Viper copters, Ukrainian officials have intensified their lobbying in Washington to secure the helos for their defense against Russia.
The Slovak military currently operates a fleet of nine UH-60 Black Hawks manufactured by Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin.
Kaliňák said there is a significant difference between the original $340 million Viper offer and the current price of the helicopters, which exceeds €550 million ($582 million).
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