The USA has donated a dozen AH-1Z Viper helicopters from Bell Textron at a two-thirds discount if Slovakia sends fighter jets to Ukraine in return. This offer has already been approved by the US State Department as part of an approximately 550 million euro deal and also includes missiles, guns and launchers.
Slovakia is not the first country to receive the Bell AH-1Z. Other user states include Pakistan, Bahrain and the USA itself. But Slovakia’s neighbor, the Czech Republic, also uses the Czech Republic, also uses the AH-1Z helicopter. One African country – Nigeria – has also received approval to purchase the platform and signed a contract, although delivery has yet to begin.
In addition to the helicopters, the order also includes the associated equipment. This includes up to 26 T-700 GE 401C engines (24 installed, two spares), 1,680 WGU-59/B Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems (APKWS) and 14 Honeywell Embedded Global Positioning Systems/Inertial Navigation Systems (twelve installed, two spares). Other systems included are the Helmet Mounted Display System/Optimized TopOwl, Target Sight Systems and Containers, ANVIS-9 Night Vision Cueing Displays, AN/ARC-210 Generation 6 Receiver-Transmitter 2036 radios and AN/APX-123A Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) Mode 5 systems. Protection systems installed in the AH-1Z include chaff and flare countermeasure systems, decoys, a missile warning system, and radar warning receivers and conversion kits. The kinetic weapons authorized in the agreement include WTU-1B warheads, M-197 20-millimeter armament pod guns, 20-millimeter PGU-27A/B target practice rounds and 20-millimeter PGU-28A/B high-explosive semi-armor-piercing shells. https://militaeraktuell.at/angelobung-von-200-rekruten-in-gampern/ The AH-1Z Viper is an evolution of the AH-1W, replacing the existing cockpit and propulsion system with an integrated digital/glass cockpit, four-bladed, all-composite, hingeless rotor system, drivetrain, engine, transmission, hydraulics, electrical systems and tail boom.
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