Slovakia Will Continue Renovating Sliac Airbase without NATO Help

Bratislava, June 25 (TASR) - Slovakia will complete the infrastructure of Sliac airbase in Banska Bystrica region on its own, Defence Ministry State Secretary Martin Vojtasovic has agreed on this at a meeting with representatives of the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) in Luxembourg. "It was a very fair and direct negotiation. NSPA understands our position that we need to complete Sliac airbase as soon as possible. Now it's up to us to speed up the processes at the national level and have the reconstruction fully under control," said Vojtasovic. The strategic military airbase needs to be renovated for the upcoming arrival of procured F-16 fighter jets. The Defence Ministry said that the first two fighter jets from the USA will arrive in Slovakia in a month. The aircraft will be temporarily stationed at Kuchyna airbase. The reconstruction of Sliac airbase was approved by the government in 2019 under then-defence minister Petr Gajdos. His successor, Jaroslav Nad, reported in April 2023 that of the 33 projects, 11 were being implemented via the NSPA, seven via other NATO programmes and the remaining projects were being implemented at the national level. Nad admitted at the time that not all projects would be completed by the time the F-16s are delivered. zel