Babiš announces sale of six Skyfox jets to Serbia, deal unsigned

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said on Thursday at the Prague Security Dialogue conference that Czechia had managed to sell Serbia six L-39 Skyfox combat trainer aircraft. However, according to the Serbian portal Tango Six, Belgrade has so far signed a contract neither for the Skyfox nor for the L-410 NG transport planes.

What Babiš said

Answering a question from Aktuálně.cz, Babiš said: “We managed to sell six of these aircraft to Serbia, and we have also sold more L-410 planes.” According to him, the Skyfox will be used, among other things, to train Serbian pilots preparing for the new French Rafale fighters. The news of the sale was picked up by Czech and foreign media.

Tango Six, citing several Serbian and foreign sources, disputes this: no contract has yet been signed for either the Skyfox or the L-410 NG. The portal could not resist a jab at the Czech premier: “The Czech prime minister is an older man with a peculiar character and manner of communication.” It recalled that a few months ago Babiš had already spoken in Belgrade on this subject and had quite forcefully pitched the aircraft of one of the Czech companies. This refers to his July visit to Serbia, when Babiš discussed buying the Skyfox and the L-410 with the then Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić and Prime Minister Đuro Macut.

What the manufacturer confirmed

The Skyfox is built by Aero Vodochody. Its spokesman Lukáš Hora told the ČTK news agency that the company can confirm only that a contract offer has been sent. He did not name a price. According to Tango Six, the Czech manufacturer has found itself in an awkward position: it cannot openly contradict its own prime minister. The portal stresses that sending an offer does not yet mean a deal has been concluded.

Who else is competing for the order

Serbia is looking for new trainer or combat trainer aircraft to replace its aging fleet of Yugoslav-era Super Galeb G-4s and to prepare pilots for the Rafale. Serbia signed a deal with France for those fighters in 2024. According to Tango Six, this is not a formal tender but a competition among several manufacturers, whose aircraft the Serbian air force is evaluating one by one.

Besides the Czech Aero, the order is being contested by America’s Textron, Switzerland’s Pilatus, Brazil’s Embraer, Chinese manufacturers and the Serbian company Utva. Serbian pilots have already tried the Brazilian Super Tucano turboprop and the Swiss Pilatus PC-21. The American AT-6 Wolverine was shown at the Batajnica military airfield near Belgrade in February, and the Czech L-39 Skyfox arrived there in mid-March.

The choice of aircraft has also been affected by Serbia’s October parliamentary elections, won by the opposition student movement. In Tango Six’s assessment, because of the expected change in approach to military orders, procurement is likely to slow down noticeably.

The Skyfox has been bought in the past by Hungary and Vietnam, among others, and Armenia announced a purchase in October. According to the Serbian portal, Aero Vodochody has sold only 45 of these aircraft in total, 26 of which have already been delivered to customers.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz