Hueys land in Bosnia ahead of schedule

7th December 2021 - 13:45 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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One of the four new Huey II helicopters for the Bosnia and Herzegovina Armed Forces. (Photo: FENA)

Four Huey II helicopters arrived on 4 December in Sarajevo – ahead of the original planned delivery date of 2022-2023.

Four new Bell Huey II multimission helicopters for the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Armed Forces arrived in Sarajevo on 4 December, according to government-owned news agency FENA.

Delivery of the helicopters actually occurred ahead of schedule; under the original deal signed in December 2019, the aircraft were to arrive in 2022 and 2023.

The helicopters were shipped from the US on an An-124 cargo aircraft. They will be used by the BiH military to support civilian disaster relief and emergency response.

Their purchase was financed jointly by the US Foreign Military Financing programme ($34.2 million) and the Bosnian MoD ($4.3 million), FENA reported on 5 December. Included in the deal are tools, ground support equipment, a two-year warranty and training for pilots and maintenance crews.

The four Huey IIs will be formally handed over once test flights are completed. They will partly replace a fleet of 13 Bell UH-1H Huey helicopters.