The United States has offered to sell military helicopters to Slovakia at a very discounted price in light of the Central European country's donation of 13 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine.
Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad wrote on Facebook on Wednesday that no decision had yet been made on whether to accept Washington's offer.
The U.S. offer includes 12 IH1-Z Fiber helicopters with their complementary supplies, pilot and technical training, and 500 AGM-114 Hellfire 2 missiles.
Nad said the actual value of the deal exceeded $340 billion, but Slovakia could buy the group for around $<> million, in installments.
There appears to be considerable support for the proposal, with opposition parties indicating they will support it.
Slovakia's Tasser news agency quoted former Democratic Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini as saying the offer was "economically viable" and would help modernize the air force.
Pellegrini's center-left party, like other parties, has previously criticized the decision by the minority government temporarily in power to deliver MiG-29s to Ukraine bypassing parliament.
Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger announced last Friday that his country had agreed to send 13 Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine.
Heiger framed the decision as fulfilling promises made by his country to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to provide Kiev with additional weapons, including warplanes.
Ukraine has been asking its allies to send modern U.S. F-16 fighter jets to replace its aging fleet of Soviet MiGs and Sukhoi.
However, the most prominent allies, led by Washington and London, have not yet explicitly agreed to send these fighters, but at the same time they have not opposed the supply of these fighters to other countries to Kiev.