Czechia and Poland to help patrol Slovakia’s airspace

Defence ministers of Czechia, Poland and Slovakia signed a joint declaration on Saturday that, starting from September, Czech and Polish aircraft will help Slovakia in the defence of her skies, Czech Radio reports.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Slovakia decided to prematurely terminate its MiG-29 fighter arm and acquire F-16s. However, the US aircraft are yet to be supplied and the Central European state therefore needs help in patrolling its airspace in the short term.

It has not been ruled out that Slovakia’s MiGs may be sent to Ukraine.

On Saturday, Czech Defence Minister Jana Černochová also signed an agreement with her Slovak counterpart Jaroslav Naď that the two countries will cooperate in their purchase of Swedish CV90 infantry fighting vehicles. The two ministers said that they hope this will result in lower purchasing prices as well as work for Czech and Slovak companies in maintaining the vehicles and manufacturing spare parts.