Kuwait’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) has issued a clarification on inquiries made by several lawmakers about the existence of a technical malfunction in Caracal aircraft, specifically in relation to two aircrafts, ahead of their delivery by the manufacturer, Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported.

The Ministry has made the decision to form a specialized technical committee tasked with examining reasons that prevented the receipt of the aircraft and addressing the root causes behind this in order to prevent a repeat of the matter.

The move was made out of complete concern for the safety of air force pilots and employees, in preservation of public funds, and in response to the rightful statements and queries posed by the lawmakers, said the Ministry in a statement.

Furthermore, the Ministry confirmed the “suspension of its receipt of these aircraft at the present time, pending the conclusion of the committee's inspection of the problem and the receipt of the manufacturer's report on the malfunction suffered by some of the aircrafts.”

The Ministry will then take the “appropriate decision about the aircrafts’ formal delivery by the manufacturer, in light of positive results in this regard, with full assurances received that no technical malfunction would occur in the future.”

In August 2016, Kuwait ordered 30 H225M Caracal multirole military utility helicopters, 24 of them for the Kuwaiti Air Force and six for the Kuwait National Guard, in a deal worth over one billion Euros ($1.1 billion)

The agreement to buy the versatile Airbus Caracal helicopters is part of a €2.5 billion package of deals that Kuwait and France agreed on in October 2015.

Delivery of the first helicopters was originally expected in early 2019.