The United States has delivered four new Huey II helicopters to the armed forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) at the Sarajevo international airport.
The helicopters arrived in B&H aboard an Antonov An-124 cargo plane from the Bell’s Huntsville, Alabama, facility.
An official handover of the helicopters is planned in the coming days, after first test flights have been completed, the Bosnian defense ministry said.
Bell built the four helicopters under $38.5 million contract signed between the US and the Balkan country in December 2019. The US contributed around 34 million dollars through its foreign military sales and foreign military funds programs, while B&H contributed the remaining $4.3 million.
The total package includes tools, ground support equipment, spare parts, two-year warranty, as well as training of the AFBiH’s pilots and maintainers operating and performing maintenance on this type of aircraft.
These helicopters will increase the readiness of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina to support civilian authorities to respond to emergencies and natural disasters, to include medical evacuation, firefighting, search and rescue, as well as other missions.
The Huey IIs represent the most significant defense equipment procurement project in the history of the armed forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They were delivered after Bosnian pilots completed training on the helicopters at Fort Worth, Texas, in June this year.
