The Slovak Defense Ministry wants to purchase transport planes for the needs of the Slovak armed forces. The ministry plans to buy between two and six transport planes for SKK 2.5 billion to SKK 7.5 billion. The payments should be spread over several years, since the Defense Ministry cannot secure funding of the purchase from its own budget.
The companies that have shown interest in supplying their planes to the Slovak Army include the US company Lockheed Martin with its C-130, the Spanish CASA-EADS with Casa C-295, and Italian Alenia Aeronautica with C-27 Spartan. All three companies declared their willingness to accept the payments over a period of ten years, and they can also offer offsets programs. There were significant differences between the bids of the companies in the deadline of delivery of planes, which the Defense Ministry did not specify. In general, the first plane is expected to be delivered within 18 months from the signing of the contract.
Though the Defense Ministry admits that from the economic standpoint the most effective solution would be to secure transport capacity through a contract carrier, it is not possible from a long-time perspective to secure availability case of deployment or a crisis situation at the required extent or in time. The ministry bases the need for purchase of new transport planes on its experience in the transport of units of the Slovak armed forces to operations and missions outside Slovakia. The material has been sent for interdepartmental review.
(EUR 1 = SKK 30.214 on July 1)