Prague, July 27 (CTK) – The Czech military will pay about one billion crowns without VAT for the service of its ten W-3A Sokol rescue helicopters in 2015-2021, Defence Ministry spokesman Petr Medek told CTK Monday.
The government is to debate the respective contract on Wednesday.
The Defence Ministry at the same time prepares a general repair of eight of the helicopters for some 800 million crowns, Medek added.
The Sokol helicopters are mainly used for air emergency service, but also for humanitarian evacuations of the wounded or disabled within the MEDEVAC programme and for the Search and Rescue (SAR) service.
The lifespan of eight helicopters is to expire soon and the military therefore plans their repairs.
Last year, two helicopters were upgraded for 110 million crowns each.
The Defence Ministry is now negotiating about the price for eight other helicopters trying to agree on a quantitative discount. The ministry representatives expect to pay some 100 million crowns for each helicopter.
The upgraded helicopters are to serve for further seven to eight years and spend 1,500 hours in the air.
