Czech President Petr Pavel said that his country will soon provide Ukraine with combat aircraft to improve the effectiveness of countering drones launched by the aggressor country russia.
Pavel made the statement at a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, January 16, Reuters reports.
"The Czech Republic can in relatively short time provide several medium combat planes, which are highly effective in fighting drones, and I believe we will manage to quickly and successfully conclude this issue," Pavel said at a joint press conference with Zelenskyy.
The Czech president did not specify what kind of planes he was talking about. Reuters recalled that a few years ago Pavel said that Prague could transfer Aero L-159 light combat trainer aircraft to Kyiv. The Czech army has 24 L-159s in service, which are used to train and support ground forces.
Pavel also added that Ukraine could receive early warning systems from the Czech Republic, such as stationary radar stations.
What is known about the Aero L-159?
The Aero L-159 is a light subsonic combat trainer developed by the Czech company Aero Vodochody. It is a further development of the L-39 Albatros.
The Aero L-159 was produced from 1999 to 2004. More than 70 production aircraft were produced. Since 2017, Aero Vodochody has been producing the L-159T2, which is a two-seat modification of the previously retired L-159A.
The aircraft has seven suspension points that can be equipped with aircraft bombs weighing a total of almost 2.5 thousand kilograms. The L-159 can also be equipped with air-to-air, air-to-ground missiles and containers with unguided aircraft missiles.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on January 6, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said, that Prague is ready to continue the initiative to purchase artillery shells for Ukraine, but the country will no longer allocate its funds for this.
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