Ukraine pushes for delivery of AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters – Slovakia refuses

Vadym Ivchenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliamentary committee on national security, said Ukraine needs the AH-1Z helicopters in the Donetsk and Zaporizhia provinces and for use in the Kursk region.

With the aim of acquiring a modern fleet of attack helicopters alongside its Soviet-era Mi-24/Mi-35 fleet, Ukraine has acquired the US AH-1Z Viper helicopters, which were originally intended for Slovakia. The country was actually planning to acquire 12 helicopters at a very reasonable price in exchange for the donation of MiG-29s to Ukraine, until the new government in Bratislava under Prime Minister Robert Fico began to back away from the program.

The preliminary sale to Slovakia came after Washington's Foreign Military Sales (FMS) sale of 12 Bell AH-1Z Vipers worth around $600 million to Pakistan in 2018 fell through due to diplomatic and geopolitical reasons. The US then offered Slovakia the same helicopters, including AGM-114 Hellfire II air-to-ground missiles and Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System missiles, in March 2023 for a total price of around $340 million, later increased to $600 million.

The AH-1Z Vipers helicopters for Pakistan were originally ordered under two US FMS contracts in 2015 and 2016. The twelve helicopters were manufactured at Bell's manufacturing facility in Amarillo, Texas, between mid-2017 and mid-2018. However, in January 2018, the US government halted military sales to Pakistan due to concerns that the country was unable to fight the Taliban and its allies near the Afghan border.

The helicopters were therefore never delivered and were later stored at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance And Regeneration Group (AMARG), also known as the “Boneyard”, in Tucson, Arizona. The Pakistan Army Aviation Corps is already a user of Bell's AH-1 Cobra and has a fleet of AH-1F and AH-1S helicopters.

The Ukrainian government is negotiating with the USA about the purchase of 12 AH-1Z #Viper #Helicopterwhich #Slovakia had previously intended to buy. #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/UvDORcGbP8

— Boris Alexander Beissner (@boris_beissner) 14 September 2024

Slovak deal

Defense News said that in March 2023, then-Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad announced the American offer, “worth about $1 billion, or about a third of the regular price, to compensate the country for its donation of Soviet-designed MiG-29 jets and 2K12-Kub air defense systems to Ukraine.”

However Kyiv Post added that the new central government of Prime Minister Robert Fico had “questioned” the deal, saying its “priority” was on “other weapons systems” such as additional F-16 fighter jets in addition to the 14 jets it ordered in 2018 and Patriot air defense systems. “They proposed applying the discount offered to these alternative purchases.”

AH-1Z Viper of the Czech Air Force.

🇨🇿 pic.twitter.com/M1YI42H6TJ

– Daniel of Bohemia 🇨🇿 (@Danny_elMayor) 4 September 2024

In response, the “disappointed” US State Department indicated that it would withdraw the reduced offer. Then, in July 2024, the US State Department approved the FMS for the 12 AH-1Z Vipers to Slovakia, again for “$600 million,” which was “a hefty increase over the original $340 million offer to the previous Slovak government.” Defense News reported.

According to the FMS announcement, Slovakia was also to purchase 26 T-700 General Electric GE 401C engines, 1,680 APKWS (Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System), unguided air-to-surface rockets, 20 mm ammunition, HMDs (Helmet Mounted Displays), electronics, accessories, as well as training for pilots, maintenance personnel and supporting infrastructure. Compared to the original offer, the FMS did not include the AGM-114 Hellfire.

Ukraine needs attack helicopters

The revelation also comes after The pilot had reported on the importance of attack helicopters in the extensive ground war in which the Russian armed forces have managed to maintain a consistent strategic upper hand due to their large fleet of different attack helicopters. These include the Mi-24 and Mi-35 Hind, Ka-52 Alligator and Mi-28 Havoc attack helicopters.

Ukraine's impressive Kursk offensive remained a mere sector victory and cannot be repeated on a 600 km front because the limited Western tanks, artillery, small air forces and ground forces lacked the sustained air support for mutually supportive, synchronized and sustained attacks on the Russian lines. Attack helicopters could amplify the advantages of the “war of movement” that has returned to the European theater and break the stalemate caused by Russia's “war of position.”

Distinguished by its three-barreled, chin-mounted rotating 20mm Gatling cannon, the AH-1Z Viper also features a rare “fully integrated air-to-air missile capability,” making it the “only attack helicopter” of its kind, according to Bell. It is often photographed carrying two AIM-9 Sidewinder AAMs (air-to-air missiles), one on each of its stubby wings.

The Viper, which has fixed landing skids instead of wheeled landing gear like the Apache, is the US Marine Corps' premier rotary-wing fighter aircraft. Aside from Hellfires and the latest evolution of the Cobra, the AH-1Z can also carry AGM-179 JAGM (Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles) in two racks of four quadruple launchers with a total of eight missiles.

The USMC utilized this capability when it live-fired a JAGM from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit's (31st MEU) Viper in the Philippine Sea on June 26, 2024, sinking a moving target. This was the first time a JAGM was fired from the Viper in the Indo-Pacific region.

Ukraine pushes for AH-1Z Vipers

The leading Ukrainian representative pushing for the AH-1Z Vipers since 2022 is Vadym Ivchenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) has also applied for the aircraft in a “letter of request” through the FMS route.

In December 2023, Ukraine also “unsuccessfully” requested AH-64E Apache helicopters from the US. The AH-1Z Vipers therefore resurfaced as “another potential candidate”.

“We need these helicopters for our soldiers who are fighting on the front lines in the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk, Zaporizhia and other regions, but are also conducting an operation in the Kursk region,” Ivchenko said. Defense News.This confirms the analysis by The pilot.

Ivchenko also said he had written to US President Joe Biden, asking the administration to redirect the Vipers to Kyiv if Slovakia ultimately rejects them. “Slovakia should decide what weapons and equipment it needs for its military, and if it does not need these helicopters, then their delivery to Ukraine should take place as soon as possible,” he said.

Ivchenko said Kyiv is also holding talks with Bell Helicopters to persuade them to enter into a production partnership at a Ukrainian factory. “We would like to deepen our industrial cooperation with the US to produce such helicopters in Ukraine,” Ivchenko said. “This foreign investment would be guaranteed by the Ukrainian government.”

Parth Satam's career spans a decade and a half between two daily newspapers and two defence policy publications. He believes that war, as a human activity, has causes and consequences that go far beyond the question of which missile and which aircraft flies the fastest. As such, he enjoys analysing military affairs at their intersection with foreign policy, economics, technology, society and history. His work spans the entire spectrum from defence aviation, tactics, military doctrine and theory, personnel issues, West Asian and Eurasian affairs to the energy sector and space.