The United States has offered Slovakia to purchase military helicopters at a discount as compensation for the Soviet MiG-29 fighter jets promised to Ukraine. The announcement was made yesterday by Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Naď via Facebook. No decision has yet been taken on whether or not to accept the offer. The NATO state government wants to deliver 13 MiG-29s to Ukraine.
The US offer includes 12 Bell AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters with accessories, pilot and technician training, and 500 AGM-114 Hellfire II missiles. Minister Naď promoted the offer, saying the real value was more than US$1 billion, but Slovakia can buy the package for around US$340 million (€316 million) in installments.
Reactions from other parliamentary parties showed that sectors of the opposition were also in favor of accepting the offer. According to the TASR news agency, former social democratic prime minister Peter Pellegrini said the offer was “economically beneficial” and would help modernize the Slovak air force.
Pellegrini’s Social Democrats, like other opposition parties, have previously criticized the fact that the minority government, which has only been in office on an interim basis since a no-confidence vote was lost in December, decided to hand over the MiG-29 to Ukraine, bypassing parliament.