Brussels, June 24 (CTK) – The Croat, Czech, Hungarian and Slovak defence ministers yesterday signed a memorandum on the establishment of the Multinational Aviation Training Center that will be seated in the Czech Republic and whose operation will be provided by their countries.
Ante Kotromanovic (Croatia), Martin Stropnicky (Czech Republic), Csaba Hende (Hungary) and Martin Glvac (Slovakia) signed the document at the sidelines of a meeting of defence ministers from NATO member countries in Brussels.
The project was approved by the NATO Chicago summit in May 2012 as part of the Smart Defence initiative focusing on international cooperation of NATO members in enhancing military capabilities.
Smart Defence aims at sharing capabilities, knowledge and materiel within multinational projects to cut the costs.
The aviation training centre will provide training for pilots, crew members and ground personnel from allied countries and their partners. It will focus on Russian-made helicopters currently used by the four participating countries, but other helicopters and later also other aircraft would be included in the training.
Slovakia decided to replace its old Russian Mi-17s with American Black Hawk helicopters, Glvac said previously. The United States will take part in the operation of the aviation training centre as well.
In the Czech Republic, the training centre may use the helicopter base in Pardubice, east Bohemia, as well as the Libava exercise ground, and defence schools in Brno and nearby Vyskov.
kva/mr/rtj
