Ukraine has turned down an offer to receive Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopters as military aid from Australia, citing high maintenance costs as the primary reason.
The announcement, reported on Thursday by the Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne, references a statement made to Defense Express by Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasil Miroșnicenko, as noted by Rador Radio România.
Australian authorities are phasing out the Eurocopter Tigers from their military inventory, planning to replace them with American AH-64E Apache helicopters.
Despite Australia’s willingness to provide these helicopters free of charge, Ukraine opted to decline the support due to the significant expenses associated with keeping the helicopters operational and the training of pilots for these specific models.
Defense Express also highlighted that Australia is withdrawing these helicopters for similar reasons. Germany has made the same decision, having found that the aircraft have not been in use for an extended period.
