Deadline passed, helicopter procurement uncertain: We will wait for American helicopters until Milorad Dodik approves funds!

Today is the second day since the deadline for securing funds for the procurement of helicopters for the Armed Forces of BiH expired, which Minister of Defense Zukan Helez had promised and assured that the AF BiH would receive American helicopters.
However, as we previously warned, Bosnia and Herzegovina may have to wait a while longer for the helicopter procurement project for the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of BiH, especially after the publication in the Official Gazette of BiH.

“Funds in the amount of 3,600,000 KM will be secured from the current reserve of the Budget of BiH institutions and international obligations of BiH for the fiscal year 2023 and allocated to project code 0106240 – ‘Procurement of helicopters for the MoD and AF BiH’, economic code 821300, by the end of the third quarter of the current year (no later than September 30, 2023),” it is stated in the decision published in the Official Gazette of BiH.

September 30 has passed, and it is now clear that the funds have not yet been secured.
This is a kind of deception because the initial information that the helicopter procurement was moving forward, to which the ministers from SNSD also agreed, is clearly on a long road.

Earlier, Jasmin Emrić, a representative of NES in the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament, told Patria that this is clearly a new game by Milorad Dodik.

“So, the money has not been secured. It still needs to be secured, and as determined by September 30, 2023,” said Emrić.

And September 30 has passed, and the funds have not been secured. It is clear that the decision Minister Helez boasted about was just throwing dust in the eyes of the BiH public.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has been planning the procurement of new American helicopters for the needs of the Armed Forces of BiH for a long time. And we will have to wait even longer, because the Council of Ministers of BiH will have to decide on the procurement of helicopters again, because without money, it cannot be done. And their deadlines have expired.

We remind you that the Minister of Defense of BiH, Zukan Helez, stated that the Armed Forces would receive modern and multi-purpose helicopters.

“We are 100 percent moving forward with this, American helicopters are coming, more modern and new, which also have combat capabilities, unlike what we had before, which were only for firefighting and assistance in emergencies. The helicopters we have, besides being Russian, are old and unusable,” Helez said.

And again, we have come to the devastating truth – it is true that the ‘business has started’, but it will only be completed when Milorad Dodik gives the green light.

The last American helicopters were delivered in December 2021.

(A.Č.Z.)