Czechia to Acquire Ten AH-1Z Vipers and Ten UH-1Y Venoms

In a move artfully cast in hues of largess, the U.S. is making ready to donate—free of charge—six AH-1Z Viper and two UH-1Y Venom helicopters to the Czech Republic. The machines will supplement a previous Czech order for four AH-1Zs and eight UH-1Ys—thereby bringing the total number of American combat helicopters destined for the Czech Republic to twenty.

The Vipers and Venoms will replace eight outdated Mi-24V/35 Hind helicopters in service with Czech forces since 2003.

Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochová negotiated the delivery of the eight additional aircraft during an April 2022 visit to Washington D.C. The donated helicopters have all seen U.S. military use and—though not new—are fully operational.

Cernochová said of her country’s agreement with the U.S.: “It will be a donation, we will only pay the price of repairs, reconstruction according to our requirements, transport to the Czech Republic and other related costs. At the moment, it is not possible to quantify them exactly, but compared to the price of new helicopters, these are incomparable amounts.”

In previous months, Cernochová repeatedly asserted that the originally agreed upon 12 helicopters were insufficient insomuch as Russian belligerence in Ukraine had clearly and urgently demonstrated the importance of air-support to ground-troops engaged in conventional conflicts.  

Colonel Miroslav Šajban of the Czech Ministry of Defense posits that by provisioning itself with American combat aircraft and technology the Czech army—and by extension, the Czech Republic—stands to contemporaneously enhance its defensive and offensive capabilities while reducing historic and increasingly controversial dependence on Russia. Col. Šajban adds: “Also, the fact that we will receive two different types of machines—one multi-purpose (UH-1Y Venom) that can be used to transport small groups and at the same time can act against ground targets is also important. The AH-1Z Viper type is then expected to operate in combat operations.”

In addition to the new and gently-used helicopters, the Czech Army will receive Hellfire air-to-ground and Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.

In the US, pilots and maintenance technicians from the Czech municipality of Námešte nad Oslavou have begun training on the new aircraft. Bell's mobile training team—for purpose of ensuring mastery of the requisite pilot and maintenance techniques—will work with local personnel in the Czech Republic for a period of two years following delivery of the American helicopters. What’s more, a simulation center is to be established in Námešte nad Oslavou, at which aircrew and ground personnel will train to fly and maintain the new aircraft.

The original intergovernmental agreement for the purchase of eight UH-1Y Venom multi-purpose helicopters and four AH-1Z Viper combat helicopters was signed on 12 December 2019, by then Czech and U.S. defense ministers Lubomír Metnar and Mark Esper.

FMI: www.bellflight.com