US Company to Repair Czech Military Helicopters

Text of report in English by Czech national public-service news agency CTK

Prague, 5 September: The US Honeywell International (HI) company has signed a contract with the Czech state-controlled Letecke opravny Malesice (LOM) military repair company on the maintenance and repair of the Czech military Russian-made Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters, the Defence Ministry announced today.

According to LOM spokeswoman Martina Fiserova, the contract is one of the documents on which the Czech Republic and the USA agreed in the course of their negotiations about the Czech army modernizing.

However, Fiserova declined to disclose to CTK the sum and the method of funding the cooperation.

According to Paolo Carmassi, head of the HI European activities, the main goal of the agreement is to ensure the maintenance of the Russian Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters as well as the complex support for the operators in the transportation of either passengers or cargos, in rescue operations and other missions.

Apart from the maintenance, the agreement also includes a complete overhaul of helicopters, control checks, pilots training and ensuring spare parts.

Fiserova told CTK that the two parties had been discussing the cooperation for several months.

She said the current talks between the Czech republic and the USA on the modernisation of the Czech army contributed to the signing of the agreement that was one of the topics discussed during the negotiations.

Originally published by CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1113 5 Sep 08.

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