Ukraine Pushes for AH-1Z Viper Attack Helicopters Rejected by Slovakia | Aviation

Vadym Ivchenko, a member of Ukraine’s parliamentary Committee on National Security said Ukraine needs the AH-1Z helicopters in the provinces of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and for the operation in the Kursk region.

With the goal of obtaining an advanced fleet of attack helicopters beside its Soviet-era Mi-24/Mi-35 fleet, Ukraine has sought the U.S.’s AH-1Z Viper helicopters that were originally meant for Slovakia. The country was in fact going to acquire 12 helicopters at a very discounted price in exchange for the donation of MiG-29s to Ukraine, until the new government in Bratislava led by Prime Minister Robert Fico started backtracking on the program.

The tentative sale to Slovakia came after Washington’s roughly $600 million FMS (Foreign Military Sales) sale of 12 Bell AH-1Z Vipers to Pakistan fell through in 2018, owing to diplomatic and geopolitical reasons. The U.S. then offered the same helicopters to Slovakia, including AGM-114 Hellfire II air-to-ground missiles and Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System rockets, at a total discounted price of around $340 million in Mar. 2023, which later increased to $600 million.

The AH-1Z Vipers helicopters for Pakistan were initially ordered under two U.S. FMS agreements in 2015 and 2016. The 12 helicopters were produced between mid-2017 and…