US State Department Approves Helicopters’ Sales to Slovakia, But Overpriced

Slovakia may cancel the sale of the helicopters with the US and return to European manufacturers as the US raised the agreed price by a third.

The US Department of State approved the sale of nine combat helicopters UH-60M Black Hawk to Slovakia, Hungarian online edition TVnoviny reported on Friday with reference to the American server Defence News.

"The US Department of State has approved the sale of nine combat helicopters UH-60M Black Hawk to Slovakia, which are designed to replace […] the old Soviet-made helicopters 14 Mi-17," the statement said.

The cost of each US-made helicopter is 450 million dollars.

A month ago, the Head of the Slovak Ministry of Defense, Martin Glvach, described to media the main achievement of his visit to the United States, namely an agreement on the purchase of US-made helicopters at the discounted price of 348 million dollars.  The deal was said to be an exclusive offer for Slovakia. The initial price also included maintenance of new equipment and training of Slovak staff.

The considerable increase of the price may drive Slovakia to cancel the deal and consider offers from European manufacturers. Slovak authorities have not yet given any official comment on the issue.