{"id":52531,"date":"2023-07-26T22:10:49","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T20:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=52531"},"modified":"2025-07-03T23:40:33","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T21:40:33","slug":"the-czech-republic-rearms-and-receives-its-first-ah-1z-viper-attack-helicopters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2023\/07\/26\/the-czech-republic-rearms-and-receives-its-first-ah-1z-viper-attack-helicopters\/","title":{"rendered":"The Czech Republic rearms and receives its first AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered a major rearmament process in some European NATO countries.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2023\/07\/20\/the-spectacular-and-flaming-exhibition-of-a-jas-39c-gripen-fighter-of-the-czech-air-force\/\">The spectacular and flaming exhibition of a JAS-39C Gripen fighter of the Czech Air Force<\/a><\/rel><br \/>\n<rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2023\/05\/12\/l-159-alca-this-is-the-first-fighter-made-by-a-nato-country-that-ukraine-could-receive\/\">L-159 ALCA: this is the first fighter made by a NATO country that Ukraine could receive<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n<p>Without a doubt, one of the most ambitious rearmament programs is the one being carried out by Poland. The <strong>Czech Republic<\/strong>, a smaller country with smaller armed forces, has also started <strong>a major weapons purchase program<\/strong>, which includes 77 main battle tanks <strong> Leopard 2A8<\/strong>, 170 <strong>CV90 MkIV<\/strong> infantry fighting vehicles, 68 <strong>Pandur II<\/strong> armored vehicles, 62 <strong>Caesar<\/strong> 155mm self-propelled howitzers, 24 <strong>Jackal HMT 400<\/strong> special operations vehicles and other materials whose complete list you can see at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oryxspioenkop.com\/2023\/07\/czeching-off-shopping-list-overview-of.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Oryxspioenkop.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53072701137_152716825a_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As for the Czech Air Force, it will replace its JAS-39 Gripen fighters with <strong>24 F-35A stealth fighters<\/strong>, in addition to acquiring 4 <strong>Aero L-39NG<\/strong> trainers, 2 Embraer <strong>C-390 Millennium<\/strong> transport airplanes, 10 <strong>UH-10Y Venom<\/strong> utility helicopters and 10 <strong>AH-1Z Viper<\/strong> attack helicopters, the most recent variant of the famous AH-1 Huey Cobra from the Vietnam War era.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53073782683_865a668e85_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic has reported <a href=\"https:\/\/acr.army.cz\/informacni-servis\/zpravodajstvi\/prvni-dva-vrtulniky-viper-jsou-v-cr-245318\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the arrival today of the first two AH-1Z Vipers<\/a>, aboard a US Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft. <strong>The helicopters arrived a little before noon at the 22nd Air Base of the Czech Air Force<\/strong> in N\u00e1m\u011b\u0161\u0165 nad Oslavou.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53073278566_ca9778fda0_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>These first two Czech AH-1Z Vipers are 0486<\/strong>, which has arrived with the main rotor folded, <strong>and 0487<\/strong>, which had the main rotor removed, due to limited space inside the C-17. <strong>Together with the helicopters, a large group of American specialists has arrived,<\/strong> who, together with their Czech colleagues, will complete the helicopters, put them into operation and put them into flight in the next two weeks. Thus, <strong>the Czech Republic becomes the first European operator of the Viper<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53073278576_9788140fdb_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>The US personnel who have arrived with these two helicopters will also carry out the aircraft certification process.<\/strong> In addition, during the month of August, a mobile team will arrive from the US to the Czech Republic <strong> training center<\/strong>, which will begin training air personnel at the 22nd Air Helicopter Base on September 1.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53073469884_d5b96c0625_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Czech Ministry of Defense has announced that <strong>the official presentation of the helicopters will take place in N\u00e1m\u011b\u0161\u0165 nad Oslavou on August 17<\/strong>, with the participation of the Minister of Defence, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and other representatives of the department and the Czech Army.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53073469899_1101a99818_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Czech AH-1Z Vipers are decked out in a beautiful tri-color camouflage<\/strong>, two-tone gray and olive green, and wear their national cockades on the low-visibility version.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53073782693_de9223f030_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>The AH-1Z Vipers will replace the 11 Mil Mi-24 and Mi-35 of Soviet origin owned by the Czech Air Force<\/strong>, after the delivery of 4 of these helicopter gunships to Ukraine as military aid against the Russian invasion. <em>\"Compared to the Russian Mi-24, the machines are also <strong>incomparably simpler in terms of maintenance<\/strong>\"<\/em>, the Czech Defense Ministry has noted about the Vipers. The official retirement of the Czech Mi-24 and Mi-35 will take place in September at NATO Days at the Czech airbase in Ostrava.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53073782718_aebd2c874c_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Czech Ministry of Defense has also noted that <strong>Vipers <em>\"stand out for their firepower, self-protection system<\/strong>, covert communication and survivability on the battlefield\"<\/em>. In addition, the helicopters have a digital cockpit with large LCD panels, an automatic flight control system with integrated satellite and inertial navigation.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53073278556_04613215f6_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Prior to the delivery of these aircraft, <strong>pilots and technicians from the N\u00e1m\u011b\u0161\u0165 nad Oslavou airbase trained at the Marine base at Camp Pendleton<\/strong> in California for seven months. The training team sent by the USA to the Czech Republic is expected to continue this training process for two years.<\/p>\n<p>---<\/p>\n<p><small>Photos: <a href=\"https:\/\/acr.army.cz\/informacni-servis\/zpravodajstvi\/prvni-dva-vrtulniky-viper-jsou-v-cr-245318\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ministerstvo Obrany \u010cesk\u00e9 Republiky<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered a major rearmament process in some European NATO countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19534,11546],"tags":[20176,24766,16947,19248,16364,10737,19778],"class_list":["post-52531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-defense-portada-eng","category-military-aviation","tag-221st-helicopter-squadron-of-the-czech-air-force","tag-22nd-air-base-biscay-of-the-czech-air-force","tag-bell-ah-1z-viper","tag-czech-air-force","tag-czech-army","tag-czech-republic","tag-namest-nad-oslavou"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-28 17:57:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52531\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}