BiH Army receives four new US military helicopters

The Bosnia and Herzegovina Armed Forces received four new US Bell helicopters, which will be put in service later this month after they are equipped and prepared for flight, the country’s defence ministry and the US Embassy have confirmed.

The Huey-II multi-mission helicopters were brought by transport aircraft from the United States as part of US government support to the Bosnia and Herzegovina Armed Forces.

The total value of the helicopters is slightly over $38.5 million. BiH paid only $4.3 million from its defence budget while the US donated the rest under the Foreign Military Financing programme.

The total package includes tools, ground support equipment, spare parts, two-year warranty, as well as training of the AF BiH’s pilots and maintainers operating and performing maintenance on this type of aircraft.

UH-1H-II Huey II is an upgraded and cheaper to maintain version of the UH-1H Iroquois utility military helicopter already used by the Bosnia and Herzegovina Air Force and Air Defence Brigade. Such helicopters are intended for troop transport, medical evacuations, firefighting, search-and-rescue and other operations.

(Željko Trkanjec | EURACTIV.hr)