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Parliament green lights purchase of French helicopters

zervakis france
National Guard chief Demokritos Zervakis and Chief of Staff of the French Army Thierry Burkhard

Parliament has green-lit the military’s request for the acquisition of six attack helicopters from France, replacing the National Guard’s ageing fleet of Russian helicopter gunships.

During a closed-doors session of the House defence committee on Monday, MPs agreed to release €53 million to the National Guard as a down-payment for the purchase of the six attack helicopters.

According to daily Politis, the deal for the six light utility helicopters, manufactured by Airbus, is expected to be signed over the next few days.

The deal for the six Airbus helicopters – including for related equipment and ammunition – will cost a total of €140 million. The amount will be paid in installments until the year 2026.

The plan includes an option for the acquisition of an additional six helicopters (12 in total) over a ten-year period. The 12 Airbus helicopters will replace the Cypriot military’s 11 Russian Mi-35 gunships, to be sold to Serbia.

Last week the permanent secretary of the defence ministry Andreas Louka, accompanied by a delegation of the National Guard’s general staff, viewed the Airbus helicopters at Eurosatory 2022 – an international weaponry industry trade fair held in Paris.

Prior to that, National Guard chief Lieutenant-General Demokritos Zervakis had met with French General Thierry Burkhard; the two discussed the implementation of the bilateral military cooperation programme for the 2022-2023 period, signed on June 9.

In August 2020 Cyprus parliament had ratified an agreement for cooperation between the respective armed forces of Cyprus and France. The agreement provides for cooperation in armaments and defence technology, joint personnel training and joint search and rescue exercises.

The formal decision to offload the National Guard’s 11 Russian gunships was taken by the cabinet in August 2021.

Reportedly, the chief reason had to do with the high upkeep cost for the Russian helicopters – an estimated €100 million over the next 10 years. Moreover, the EU sanctions recently imposed on Russia would render the repair of the helicopters difficult, if not impossible. By contrast, Serbia – the interested buyer – is not a member of the EU and therefore not bound by the sanctions.

Sources told Politis that the National Guard intends to gradually wean itself off Russian armaments in general.

The Cypriot military currently possesses a number of Russian-made weapons systems: BMP3 infantry fighting vehicles, T -80 battle tanks, the TΟR-M1 short-range surface-to-air missile system, and the Buk-M1-2 self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile system.

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