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Strengthens the air force with six French attack helicopters - Costs and details of the agreement
, 21/06/2022 (last update 9:11)
The Ministry of Defense is strengthening the Hellenic Air Force with the purchase of six French light fighter helicopters.
Yesterday, he secured the green light from the Parliament,
for the signing of the agreement
with the release of an amount of € 53 million that is intended to be paid as an advance.
The Parliamentary Committee on Defense held an extraordinary meeting on this issue yesterday morning in closed doors,
where its members were informed about the fighter helicopters
of the company Airbus Helicopters,
which will be purchased by the Hellenic Air Force.
The members of the Committee on Defense decided to release the € 53 million
requested by the Ministry of Finance through an additional budget.
Signatures of the agreement are expected to fall within the next few days.
According to information from "P",
the total cost of the helicopters together with the ammunition, such as cannons, rocket launchers and guided missiles,
will amount to € 140 million.
The amount will be repaid in installments by 2026.
The plan drawn up in depth is the purchase of a total of 12 attack helicopters in two phases (six plus six helicopters),
as the Ministry of Defense intends to sell the 11 Russian Mi-35 fighter helicopters
owned by the Hellenic Armed Forces in Serbia.
Specifically, it was decided to initially supply six helicopters within a period of five years,
with the possibility of exercising the option for another six.
With the receipt of the new combat helicopters,
the Russian Mi-35s will be handed over to the Serbian army.
It should be noted that from August 2020, with the ratification by the Cypriot Parliament,
the military agreement between the armed forces of the Republic of Cyprus and France came into force.
The military agreement provides for co-operation in the fields of armaments and defense technology,
joint training of military personnel and conducting search and rescue exercises.
The Russians are leaving
As "P" revealed last August, the Council of Ministers decided to sell the 11 Russian Mi-35P attack helicopters
as well as their other related equipment to Serbia.
The goal of the Ministry of Defense is the sale of 11 Russian Mi-35 fighter helicopters
with the simultaneous purchase of new modern combat helicopters.
The Russian helicopters will be delivered to Serbia, after the EU receives the French helicopters.
Both the Ministry of Defense and the GEEF were in favor of the sale of Russian helicopters, citing three main reasons:
They are technologically advanced.
For the next 10 years, a budget of € 100 million is required for their repair, while at a cost of € 140 million, six new modern helicopters will be purchased.
With the Russian sanctions imposed by the EU, it is considered difficult or even impossible to repair them. Therefore, it is a matter of time before they are fixed.
In particular, the National Guard has in its arsenal 11 Russian MI-35P attack helicopters, which,
according to the relevant information recently received by the Council of Ministers,
have been technologically outdated - purchased 20 years ago -
as a result of which they do not meet its operational requirements.
GEEF. At the same time, the 11 helicopters have increased maintenance requirements
and in order to maintain their airworthiness,
the Ministry of Defense will have to make two general repairs within the next decade, in 2021 - 2022
and 2026-2027, with an estimated cost of € 100 million
Serbia wants to include these helicopters in its air force, as it has no problem maintaining the Mi-35
because it is not an EU member and sanctions against Russia do not apply.
In fact, on April 12, 2021, a team of technicians led by the Serbian Deputy Minister of Defense for Resource Management, Mr. Nenad Miloradovic,
met at the Andreas Papandreou Air Base in Paphos,
where they inspected the Russian helicopters to assess their condition.
As a result of this inspection, on May 20, 2021,
a letter was sent by the Ministry of Defense of Serbia
in which it formalized its interest in purchasing the 11 helicopters of the National Guard
and requested the submission of our offer.
For the purchase of helicopters,
Maintenance headache
As we have been duly told, there is a decision taken to disarm the IRGC from Russian armaments programs.
For the time being, the Ministry of Defense must find a way to keep the Russian weapons systems available to the US,
such as the BMP3 and T-80 armored tanks and the two self-propelled tracked anti-missile and anti-aircraft systems. M1 and Buk-M1-2,
which are our anti-aircraft umbrella.
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