Retired Brigadier wrote to Helez: Transfer of BiH Armed Forces helicopters to Mahovljani is an act of legal theft, annul such a decision

(Patria) - Retired Brigadier Izudin Maleškić sent an open letter to the Minister of Defense of BiH, Zukan Helez, in which he criticized the transfer of BiH Armed Forces helicopters from Rajlovac to Mahovljani and called on him to review and annul such a decision.

Maleškić is a professional pilot who, after the Air Force Military Academy in the former Yugoslavia, continued his specialization in America.

After respectable education at the Air Force Command and Staff College in Alabama and the Army War College in Pennsylvania, he gave a lot to his country professionally.

He finished his professional career as a member of the Armed Forces of BiH - a brigadier by rank and retired from the position of Chief of Staff of the Air Force Brigade.

He is a participant in the defense and liberation war from April 15, 1992.

We are publishing Maleškić's open letter to Minister Helez below.

Today, when Milorad Dodik has surpassed even himself in chauvinism, nationalism, and fascism, when despite all previous examples of insults, he today brazenly calls on Bosniaks to "return to Orthodoxy" and states that Bosnia and Herzegovina will be Serbian.

In such a political environment, we also read today about the transfer of helicopters of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina from Rajlovac to Mahovljani.

As you know, these are the latest donated American UH-1H-II helicopters, an upgraded version of the previously donated UH-1H helicopters that arrived in Rajlovac through the "Equip and Train" program back in 1999.

In circumstances that should have been created by the reform of the defense system and through the development of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the modernization process and the transition from Eastern to Western technology should have been a done deal long ago.

Of course, if there had not been constant obstructions, hidden intentions, and undermining of everything that meant progress and development of the air force since the very formation of the Air Force and Anti-Aircraft Defense Brigade.

If the expected and professional assumptions had been met, the act of introducing UH-1H-II helicopters into the helicopter squadron at Mahovljani yesterday should certainly have had a ceremonial character.

Instead, yesterday's act of transferring helicopters from Rajlovac to Mahovljani is only a continuation of perfidious and behind-the-scenes games on one hand and, unfortunately, a long-standing passive stance in these processes by anemic Bosniak generals whose only concern is how to get the position of "the first among Bosniaks".

Not so long ago, as Chief of Staff of the Air Force Brigade, I also faced, and warned about, these processes, I warned about the devastation of the air force, about the process of creating a parallel aviation by the same Dodik, who succeeded in that endeavor through the creation of the helicopter capacity of the MUP of Republika Srpska.

Unfortunately, the long-standing unprofessional and ego-driven interference of Bosniak generals in many issues concerning the air force has left its irreparable deep and negative mark. I would say, whatever they touched - it withered.

So, yesterday's transfer of helicopters to Mahovljani could not have been done without the knowledge and consent of Bosniak generals. This act deserves review and annulment of the order for at least three reasons.

First reason

At a time of open and institutional secession of the Republika Srpska entity and the recent act of announcing and preparing for armed rebellion by the police structures of the MUP of Republika Srpska against the actions of SIPA members, the act of transferring military resources to the Republika Srpska entity today is an unprecedented act of idiocy.

Second reason

In circumstances where we have not yet heard an unambiguous word of condemnation for the aforementioned acts of endangering the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was expected from the Chief of the Joint Staff, the consent for this transfer is an example of the absence of any form of responsibility.

Third reason

The introduction into service, or rather the assignment of a new type of helicopter to a unit, is done when the unit is capable of performing the assigned tasks from the mission of that unit, i.e., when it has a sufficient number of trained crews consisting of a captain and a co-pilot.

Then, when the unit is capable of training other pilots, i.e., when it has at least one trained instructor and at least one "unit trainer".

And finally, that unit must have the ability and capacity for technical maintenance of that type, i.e., it must have at least one trained test pilot.

If these prerequisites are not met, then yesterday's transfer of helicopters to Mahovljani is an act of legal theft, which could not have happened without the knowledge and consent of Bosniak generals.

Anyone can make a mistake once, even twice, but if there is a continuity in very strange decisions, then we are right to ask ourselves whose interests are being represented here. The interests of Bosnia and Herzegovina are certainly not.

Therefore, dear Minister, call all those responsible and let them explain and justify this unprofessional and irresponsible act of typical appropriation for which you, in the end, can bear both political and professional responsibility.