Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď said: “This offer is hugely advantageous and will significantly increase Slovakia’s defence potential. Currently, we have no combat helicopters, so it would be a completely new combat capability.”
The value of this package is estimated at more than USD 1 billion. Of this, some USD 660 million will be provided to Slovakia from the US Department of Defense’s Foreign Military Financing (FMF) Programme. Under the deal, Slovakia will pay USD 340 million from the Defence budget over the next 3-4 years.
The head of the SVK MOD repeatedly said that a number of countries were interested in the said equipment, whereas he took the US offer to Slovakia very positively. He noted that the move could also be perceived as indirect compensation from the US Government for the announced delay in the delivery of the F-16 Fighting Falcons Slovakia ordered for the Slovak Air Force.
Both sides are ready to sign a US-SVK intergovernmental agreement regarding the offer once Slovakia has handed its MiG-29 Fulcrum fleet and some of its “Kub” (SA-6 “Gainful”) air defence system’s assets over to Ukraine.
