Slovakia approved for US$600 million AH-1Z helicopter order
Slovakia currently has no attack helicopters so the arrival AH-1Zs would be a major capability boost. (Photo: USMC)
The US offered a dozen AH-1Z Viper helicopters to Slovakia at two-thirds discount with the latter sending fighter aircraft to Ukraine, which would extend H-1 production beyond 2024.
The US State Department has approved the sale of 12 Bell Textron AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters to Slovakia under a US$600 million deal which includes missiles, guns and launchers.
Slovakia will join the neighbouring Czech Republic if the order goes ahead along with Pakistan, the US and Bahrain. Nigeria has also been cleared to purchase the platform and a contract placed but deliveries have yet to begin.
As well as the helicopters, the deal includes 26 T-700 GE 401C engines (24 installed, 2 spares), 1,680 WGU-59/B Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems (APKWS) and 14 Honeywell embedded global positioning systems/inertial navigation systems (12 installed, 2 spares).
Other systems include Helmet Mounted Display System/Optimized TopOwl, Target Sight Systems and containers, ANVIS-9 night-vision cueing displays, AN/ARC-210 Generation 6 receiver-transmitter 2036 radio equipment and AN/APX-123A identification friend or foe (IFF) Mode 5 systems.
Kinetic weapons approved under the deal include WTU-1B warheads, M-197 20mm armament pod gun assemblies, 20 mm PGU-27A/B target practice rounds and 20 mm PGU-28A/B semi armour piercing high explosive incendiary rounds.
Protection systems include AN/ALE-47 chaff and flare countermeasures systems, MJU-32A/B and MJU-49B decoy flares, SMB875B/ALE flare simulators, AN/AAR-47 missile warning system and AN/APR-39C radar warning receiver and conversion kits.
The AH-1Z Viper is an upgrade to AH-1W and replaces the existing cockpit and drive system with an integrated digital/glass cockpit, four-bladed, all-composite, hingeless, bearingless rotor system, drivetrain, engine, transmission, hydraulics, electrical systems and tail boom.
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