BiH Army receives four new US military helicopters

The Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) received delivery of four Bell UH-1H-II Huey II helicopters worth US$38.5 million at Sarajevo International Airport on 4 December.

The aircraft were majority funded through a $34.2 million contribution from the US government as part of its Foreign Military Financing program, with the remainder being made up by $4.3 million drawn from BiH’s regular defense budget.

BiH plans to put the new helicopters into service later this month after they are fully equipped and prepared for flight.

The UH-1H-II Huey II is an upgraded, low-maintenance version of the UH-1H Iroquois utility military helicopters currently in use by the Bosnia and Herzegovina Air Force and Air Defence Brigade. The helicopters will be used for a range of purposes including troop transport, medical evacuations, firefighting and search and rescue.

In addition to the four aircraft, the full package includes spare parts and tools, a two-year warranty and the provision of pilot and maintenance training.

The delivery completes an acquisition process announced by the Bosnian government in December 2019, which was described by then-Defense Minister Marina Pendes as ‘the largest investment project since the establishment of the BiH Armed Forces, both in terms of the amount of funding and the impact it will have on the operational capacities and capabilities of the BiH army’.

The new aircraft also represent a substantial step towards modernizing the BiH’s helicopter fleets, which primarily consists of a mixture of aging Mi-8 transport helicopters and UH-1H and SA 341 Gazelle multipurpose aircraft.

The Lebanese Air Force also acquired three UH-1H-II Huey II helicopters from Bell in February of this year.