Minister Gajdoš hands over the first Spartan airlifter to airmen in a formal ceremony
- Author:
- Photo:
- Date: 31.10.2017
- Share: Zdieľať na Facebook
SVK Minister of Defence Peter Gajdoš today formally handed over the first of the two Spartan military airlifters to SVK Air Force personnel for operational use. The handover of the new transport aircraft took place in a formal ceremony in the grounds of the General M. R. Štefánik Transport Wing (TW) Kuchyňa. From the perspective of modernising the Armed Forces, this is yet another historic milestone.
In his remarks, SVK Minister of Defence Peter Gajdoš said: “I want to extend my best wishes to our pilots for many happy flying hours. At the same time, I trust the new state-of-the-art air asset will be a motivation to them to perform to even higher standards.” He went on to underscore that the aircraft will not only be used to meet soldiers' operational needs, but it will also be employed on domestic crisis management operations to serve all Slovak citizens.
According to Chairman of the SVK Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Security/Slovak National Party (SNS) Deputy Chairman Anton Hrnko, this is one of the major steps in delivering on the reform goals of the Armed Forces, in the sense that Slovakia will have a small, well equipped, trained and deployable armed forces. “In light of deployability, this aircraft marks a significant step ahead. Still, there is a need to continue rearming the core component of our Armed Forces, i.e. SVK Land Forces,” he said.
On the air transport capability, SVK Chief of Defence Gen Milan Maxim added: “The capability to transport troops and materiel by air is one of the main characteristic features of modern militaries. I am very pleased that we have joined them again, since we lost this capability for some time with the phase-out of the Antonov aircraft fleet. I believe this aircraft will always be well prepared to meet current operational requests with flexibility.”
The purchase of the two C-27J Spartan medium-lift tactical aircraft was implemented in conformity with the SVK Air Force Development Concept. The contract for delivery of the aircraft was signed in 2014. The new C-27J Spartan fleet will replace the retired Antonov AN-24 and AN-26 transport aircraft. As a result, the SVK Air Force will not lose its air transport capability with the transport capacity it temporarily lacked after the SVK Air Force had retired the Antonov aircraft fleet.
The new C-27J Spartan is capable of carrying, aside from a 3-man crew, 46 service personnel. The advantage of the aircraft is that it may also be utilised in the role of domestic crisis management. This includes transporting the injured, aerial delivery of materiel and supplies, and firefighting operations.
In his remarks, SVK Minister of Defence Peter Gajdoš said: “I want to extend my best wishes to our pilots for many happy flying hours. At the same time, I trust the new state-of-the-art air asset will be a motivation to them to perform to even higher standards.” He went on to underscore that the aircraft will not only be used to meet soldiers' operational needs, but it will also be employed on domestic crisis management operations to serve all Slovak citizens.
According to Chairman of the SVK Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Security/Slovak National Party (SNS) Deputy Chairman Anton Hrnko, this is one of the major steps in delivering on the reform goals of the Armed Forces, in the sense that Slovakia will have a small, well equipped, trained and deployable armed forces. “In light of deployability, this aircraft marks a significant step ahead. Still, there is a need to continue rearming the core component of our Armed Forces, i.e. SVK Land Forces,” he said.
On the air transport capability, SVK Chief of Defence Gen Milan Maxim added: “The capability to transport troops and materiel by air is one of the main characteristic features of modern militaries. I am very pleased that we have joined them again, since we lost this capability for some time with the phase-out of the Antonov aircraft fleet. I believe this aircraft will always be well prepared to meet current operational requests with flexibility.”
The purchase of the two C-27J Spartan medium-lift tactical aircraft was implemented in conformity with the SVK Air Force Development Concept. The contract for delivery of the aircraft was signed in 2014. The new C-27J Spartan fleet will replace the retired Antonov AN-24 and AN-26 transport aircraft. As a result, the SVK Air Force will not lose its air transport capability with the transport capacity it temporarily lacked after the SVK Air Force had retired the Antonov aircraft fleet.
The new C-27J Spartan is capable of carrying, aside from a 3-man crew, 46 service personnel. The advantage of the aircraft is that it may also be utilised in the role of domestic crisis management. This includes transporting the injured, aerial delivery of materiel and supplies, and firefighting operations.
