Albania orders five Cougar helicopters

TIRANA, Dec. 20 – The Albanian Defense Ministry has signed a contract to buy five Eurocopter AS532AL Cougars for its armed forces.
The contract was signed during a ceremony attended by Defense Minister Arben Imami, Arjan Starova, Deputy Minister of Defense, Chief of General Staff of Armed Forces Brigadier General Maksim Malaj, directors and senior Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces General Staff. Also present were the Ambassador of France to Tirana, Maryse Daviet, and German Ambassador Bernd Borchardt as well as representatives of Eurocopter.
The aircraft will be delivered over the next 3-4 years.
Imami praised the signing of the contract as a very important moment for the Albanian Armed Forces and particularly the Air Brigade.
“Our Armed Forces are in the path of modernization and are marking new progress in meeting standards and interoperability with NATO,” he said.
The signing of this contract was finalized after a full and transparent tendering, and was followed by negotiations between experts of the Ministry of Defense and Eurocopter.
The Albanian ministry said the contract was worth 78,633,288 Euros and will end in 2013 with the arrival of the last helicopter.
That is one of the major projects of the Albanian Armed Forces and Ministry of Defense in the last 30 years.
Former Communist Albania, which joined NATO in April, is engaged in a major military overhaul to come in line with alliance standards, replacing its antiquated Russian and Chinese-made tanks, aircraft and naval ships.
It plans to convert its conscript army into a fully professional force next year.