Industry
One Billion Korunas – The Budget Covering The Refurbishment Of The Czech Sokół Helicopters
Fot.:Energa
One billion CZK (USD 41 million) are going to be allocated by the Czech Ministry of Defence in order to carry out maintenance works related to the 10 W-3 Sokół helicopters within the period between 2015 and 2021. The works are going to be carried out by the PZL Świdnik Company.The works are going to include, but they are not going to be limited to, repairs of eight of the Czech Sokół helicopters which are reaching the end of their service-life.
Czech Armed Forces are using 10 W-3 Sokół helicopters which are utilized mainly to execute search and rescue and medical transport sorties. The Polish made rotor-craft are also being used for fire-fighting.
Last year, two of the Czech Sokół helicopters have undergone a general refurbishment at the PZL-Świdnik facility. The cost of repairs reached the amount of CZK 220 million (ca. 8.9 million dollars). The operation prolonged the lifetime of the helicopters by 1500 hours.
Prague hopes to decrease the price paid for the repairs from 110 down to ca. 100 million korunas per example. Six-year repairs and maintenance plans seems to constitute an ultimate denial of the rumours, according to which the Czech Sokół helicopters were to be decommissioned due to the high costs of operation.