This was announced by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius following the results of the 18th “Ramstein”, reports Deutschlandfunk.
According to Pistorius, Ukraine will receive six Sea King Mk41 multipurpose helicopters along with a set of spare parts for them. In addition, Germany will provide training for the Ukrainian military on helicopters.
“Sea King is a proven and durable helicopter that will help Ukrainians in many areas: from reconnaissance over the Black Sea to transporting soldiers. This is the first German delivery of this type,” Pistorius said.
At a briefing on January 24, the spokesman of the Federal Ministry of Defense, Arno Kollats, said that the handover could take place as early as April.
“As for the Sea King, I can confirm that we have agreed with Ukraine to transfer 6 Sea King helicopters. This will be possible approximately from April,” Kollats quotes Ukrinform.
The spokesman of the Federal Ministry of Defense assured that this will not reduce the combat capability of the Bundeswehr, because the provided helicopters will be replaced by another model – Sea Lion. At the same time, during the consultations, the Ukrainian side showed interest in Sea King.
Sea King helicopters perform a variety of missions, including search and rescue, transport, disaster relief, tactical land-sea transport, evacuation, surveillance, reconnaissance and maritime support.
The German Navy has been using Sea King Mk41 helicopters since the 1970s, upgrading and converting them. Recently, they have been used mostly for rescue operations at sea. Now Germany is replacing these helicopters with more modern ones.
By the way, although the Sea King Mk41 is a transport helicopter, it can carry anti-ship missiles. German Sea Kings acquired this ability after modernization in the late 1980s.
Sea King helicopters were already supplied to Ukraine by Great Britain in January 2023.
- On Tuesday, January 23, the 18th meeting of the Contact Group on the Defense of Ukraine took place in the “Ramstein” format. Important types of weaponry for Ukraine, further military assistance, and long-term support for our country were discussed there
- After the Ramstein meeting, Canada announced that it would transfer ten multi-purpose boats and spare parts to Ukraine, as well as train Ukrainians to use such boats
