As a central European effort to collectively upgrade their combined Mil Mi-24 Hind attack helicopter fleet apparently unravels, Poland is moving toward an independent tender in September. The so-called Visegrad four (V4)―Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary―have been attempting to stitch together an avionics upgrade and airframe life-extension program covering some 105 of their Soviet-era Mi-24s. However, faced with near "life-expired" airframes (a substantial element of the fleet runs out of life by 2005) and an inability to hammer out a detailed agreement, the erstwhile partners are drifting toward pursuing different routes to sustain their combat helicopter capabilities.
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