Czech defense ministry signs deal to deliver Czech-made military airplanes to US company

The Czech Defense Ministry has signed a deal to deliver 14 military airplanes to the United States in an $11 million deal.

According to the deal signed Monday, Czech plane maker Aero Vodochody will take the subsonic L-159 military planes back from the Czech military and will resell them to Draken International Inc., a U.S. company that cooperates with the U.S. army.

Draken has an option on a further 14 other planes.

The light combat and training planes were made by Aero Vodochody between 1999 and 2003. The Czech army had been unsuccessfully trying to sell them since 2004 because it has no use for them.

The Czechs were also negotiating a possible sale of the same planes to Iraq.