The Honduran Ministry of Defense will seek a budget of US$426.9 million next year, in which the acquisition of two helicopters has been included. However, the need for four more is foreseen.
This was confirmed by the Honduran Minister of Defense, José Manuel Zelaya, who appeared before the Central American country’s Congress to justify the budget request for 2023. Zelaya has not yet confirmed the model of the aircraft to be acquired.
52.3 MILLION MORE
The budget for the following year presents an increase, concerning 2022, of approximately US$52.3 million, or the equivalent of a 12.5% increase.
In this sense, Zelaya emphasized that they found a not so effective Defense system.
He indicated that the new guidelines would be implemented to strengthen Honduras’s terrestrial, air, and naval shield.
Part of the ineffectiveness found, recalled Zelaya, was the malfunction detected in the surveillance radars that are part of the so-called air shield against drug trafficking and organized crime.
The official confirmed that part of the budget increase and following the plan of President Xiomara Castro with the purchase of six helicopters for next year was approved by the Ministry of Finance, as well as the budget allocation for the purchase of two utility helicopters to support the various missions of the Honduran Air Force (FAH).
“The budget allocated does not meet the minimum part of what we would like to give Honduras a priority Defense system; there are soldiers who do not even earn the minimum wage, and based on such needs, we must work”, said Zelaya.