Minister Černochová: Czech Republic will receive eight Viper and Venom helicopters as a gift from the USA

Czech Defence Minister Jana Černochová (ODS) told Czech Television on Thursday that during her visit to the USA in April, she successfully reached an agreement with her American counterpart Austin and that in addition to the eight Bell UH-1Y Venom multirole helicopters and four AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters purchased in December 2019, the Czech Republic will receive six more Vipers and two Venom helicopters as a gift, and the Czech Army will operate a total of ten H-1 multirole and ten H-1 attack helicopters.

"My meeting at the Pentagon with Secretary Austin in the spring of this year was successful. We received a letter from the Department of Defence saying that the US side will give us six combat helicopters and two transport helicopters over and above the twelve that the Czech Republic is buying for relatively large sums of money, which were negotiated in the form of G2G by Mr Babiš's government," said Minister Černochová.

The acquisition of twelve Venom and Viper aircraft will cost CZK 14.6 billion. As the US Embassy in Prague said on Twitter, the supernumerary helicopters will be donated to the Czech Republic under the Excess Defense Articles program. This transfers surplus defence equipment to foreign governments or international organisations and is primarily intended to modernise partner forces. Excess defence equipment is provided to the partner state at a reduced price (depending on the condition of the equipment) or by donation. The recipient shall bear the costs of transporting and, where appropriate, refurbishing or upgrading the equipment. For example, Croatia will receive 120 M2A2 Bradley tracked infantry fighting vehicles under the same scheme.

See also: Czech multi-purpose helicopters tender – four Vipers cannot be effective

The U.S. Embassy Twitter account put the information in the context of its support for Ukraine: "We are pleased to confirm the transfer of 6 AH-1Z and 2 UH-1Y helicopters to the Czech Republic under the Excess Defense Articles program. Thanks to this, the Czech Republic will only pay for the modernization and transfer of the machines. Together we are making our alliance more efficient and more capable of supporting Ukraine in its fight for freedom!" The Czech Republic has supported Ukraine with an unspecified number of Mi-24 attack helicopters. H-1 helicopters of the H-1 system will begin to enter the 221st Helicopter Squadron's arsenal from next year as a replacement for this type. Production of the first Czech Viper was started by Bell in February this year.

Source: Czech Television, @USEmbassyPrague, dsca.mil