Defense News, an American news outlet, says that Ukraine is in “active” talks with the US to buy 12 Bell AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters. These helicopters were originally made for Pakistan but were later offered for sale to Slovakia.
To recap, Pakistan ordered these 12 AH-1Z helicopters as part of American military aid under two agreements in 2015 and 2016 through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Pakistan became the first foreign customer for this type of helicopter. Bell (part of Textron Corporation) in Amarillo, Texas, manufactured all 12 helicopters from mid-2017 to mid-2018, but Pakistan never received them. This was due to a January 2018 decision by the U.S. government to halt military aid to Pakistan (which amounted to $300 million annually) for political reasons—primarily because the U.S. deemed Pakistan’s efforts to combat the Taliban and radical Islamist groups in the border regions with Afghanistan insufficient. Consequently, the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona stored all 12 AH-1Z helicopters between 2018 and 2019.
The U.S. then offered to sell Slovakia these 12 helicopters in early 2023. The U.S. proposal included providing armaments for the helicopters (including APKWS precision-guided missiles and 500 Hellfire II guided missiles). Slovakia was required to pay only $340 million, while the U.S. would cover $660 million, and the EU would contribute another $213 million. The U.S. offered this “discount” as compensation for Slovakia’s transfer of its MiG-29 fighters and Kub and S-300PMU air defense systems to Ukraine.
However, after Prime Minister Robert Fico’s new government came to power in Slovakia in October 2023, it requested that the U.S. “redirect” the discount from the AH-1Z helicopters toward the potential purchase of additional F-16V Block 70 fighters (beyond the 14 aircraft ordered in 2018) or Patriot missile defense systems, deeming the acquisition of attack helicopters a lower priority. This caused “irritation” in the U.S. government, further exacerbated by the overall deterioration of U.S. relations with the Fico government due to its critical stance on the West’s position in the war in Ukraine.
It is unclear whether the Fico government succeeded in redirecting the US discount to other purchases. However, on July 31, 2024, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) sent a notification to Congress about the possible sale of the 12 AH-1Z helicopters to Slovakia under the FMS program, but with a stated price of $600 million. This package included only 1,680 APKWS missiles, while Slovakia would have to purchase Hellfire II missiles separately. According to Defense News, the Slovak government is “hesitant” about the deal, opening the door for renewed Ukrainian efforts to acquire the helicopters.
According to reports, Ukraine has long expressed interest in acquiring the 12 Pakistani AH-1Z helicopters, and as early as 2022, the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff formally requested the U.S. to purchase these helicopters through the FMS mechanism, most likely as part of U.S. military aid.
