LOM Praha will conclude a contract with the Defense Ministry for the servicing of new helicopters by the end of the year
Update: 03/09/2022 07:10
Issued by: 03/09/2022, 07:10
Prague – By the end of the year, the state enterprise LOM Praha should conclude a service and maintenance contract with the Ministry of Defense for the new helicopters that the Czechia is purchasing from the United States. At the turn of the year, the construction of the simulation center building should also be finished, in which LOM Prague at the base in Náměšt nad Oslavou will provide operations for the training of American helicopter pilots. Company director Jiří Protiva told ČTK in an interview.
The Czech army should receive the first machines from the H-1 helicopter platform next year. It will consist of eight UH-1Y Venom multipurpose helicopters and four AH-1Z Viper combat helicopters. In addition, the United States will donate eight additional machines already in operation to the Czech Republic, so the Czech army will have a total of 20 American helicopters at its disposal.
LOM Praha participates in the introduction of a new helicopter platform to the Czech army in two ways. The first is to ensure the operation of the simulation center, the second is to ensure service and maintenance. For the simulation center, the state-owned enterprise is currently building facilities in which the simulator should be launched in the first quarter of next year. “For the simulation center, we have already secured personnel who will operate it,” said Protiva.
At the same time, the company is preparing to repair incoming helicopters. He concluded an agreement on technical background with their manufacturer, the engine manufacturer. According to Protiva, in the coming years, LOM Prague will gradually acquire the competence to ensure increasingly higher levels of repairs. “My goal in the future is to transfer as many activities as possible to the Czech Republic,” he noted.
He added that because of the US donation of older helicopters, he would have to adapt to life-cycle provisioning. At the same time, Czech technicians will be able to get to work earlier on machines that are already in operation, which would have to wait several years for new helicopters.
LOM Praha established the H-1 plant in Náměště, which will be in charge of repairing new machines. He hired the first employee to be trained in the United States. The target personnel level within two to three years is about five dozen employees, now there are a full two dozen of them. Protiva is satisfied with the success of the recruitment, according to him, the operation of the plant will be ensured by the current employees of LOM Prague as well as people who came from the army or from civilian companies, where they had experience with Bell’s aviation technology.
The service and repairs of the state enterprise will be given the task on the basis of a contract, the signing of which is planned by the end of the year. LOM Praha will also be in charge of securing logistics, i.e. purchasing spare parts, for example. The ministry ordered the company to import material related to the purchase of helicopters from the United States. “It is evident that we are one of the key partners in the purchase of American helicopters for the military,” noted Protiva.
ČTK said that the total costs of the state enterprise for the preparation of the H-1 project are up to 200 million crowns.