Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. company, announced the delivery of four Bell Huey II aircraft to the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (AFBiH) on December 4. The aircraft are part of an Foreign Military Sale signed in December 2019. Prior to the delivery, members of the AFBiH Air Force and Air Defense Brigade completed adaptation training at the Bell Training Academy in Fort Worth, Texas. This initiative is a joint project between the United States and Bosnia and Herzegovina. While the U.S. Government provided $34 million to cover most of the up-front cost, the Ministry of Defense intends to invest more than that over the next ten years to continue building this program
“We are very pleased and honored to be able to deliver these very versatile helicopters to the Armed Forces of Bosnia Herzegovina.” said Clay Bridges, regional sales manager, Bell. “The Huey IIs will enhance the Bosnia and Herzegovina’s ability to perform search and rescue, firefighting, and many other missions. Here and throughout the region, we are seeing the need for helicopters grow.”
The delivery of four Bell UH-1H-II Huey II utility helicopters to the armed forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina is expected to be completed by the end of 2021. Bosnian pilots also completed training on the helicopter in June this year at Fort Worth, Texas. The Huey II has been a reliable workhorse, compatible with NATO operations. The Bosnia and Herzegovina Armed Forces current aviation assets include Mi-8T, Mi-8MTV, Gazelle and UH-1H helicopters, all of which suffer from limited serviceability. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s fruitful partnership with NATO provides an opportunity to modernize its helicopter fleet to be more interoperable. The Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a success story worth investing in.
Huey II is an upgraded version of Bell UH-1H multimission, medium-lift helicopter, designed and manufactured by Bell Helicopter, a subsidiary of Textron. The upgrade is intended to provide improved performance over the standard version. Combining a modernised airframe of the basic UH-1H helicopter and Bell 212 components, the OEM-standard Huey II upgrade offers lower direct maintenance costs and greater mission flexibility. The helicopter can be configured for a variety of missions, including troop transport, cargo, search-and-rescue, special operations, disaster response and firefighting. Additionally, Bell’s global customer support network, with more than 100 authorized customer service facilities in 34 countries, provides customers with the largest support network in the industry.
