Bratislava can count on the Czech Republic helping Slovakia with the defence of its airspace as of September, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala confirmed after a session of the Czech Government on Thursday. It was the Czech website iDNES.cz that reported the news. In June, Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad asked the Czech Republic for help in this regard. The defence of Slovak airspace will be joined also by Poland. According to Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger, Slovakia will be in need of such aid for at least a year.
Four years ago, Slovakia put in an order for 14 US F-16 jet fighters, the first delivery of which was slated for this year and the rest for 2023. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the worldwide shortage of microchips, however, the delivery has fallen into arrears and can be expected only as late as in 2024.
Slovakia plans to use the US F-16s to replace its older Russian MiG-29 jets.
Source: TASR
