The US will supply Ukraine with Mi-8/17 helicopters of the former Afghan Air Force

In early February, the Ukrainian Air Force will receive from the United States the first three Mi-17V-5 helicopters, previously owned by the Afghan Air Force. It is reported that these rotorcraft are currently on board a civilian cargo ship traveling from the Mexican port of Veracruz to the Ukrainian Odessa.

It is also expected that the Ukrainian combat aviation fleet will be replenished by two more former Afghan Mi-17V-5 and one Mi-8MTV, which were undergoing restoration under the NATO order in Zaporozhye.

In addition, in the coming months, the APU may receive thirty-five Mi-8/17, including samples undergoing major repairs in Bulgaria, Lithuania and other countries.

Currently, the helicopter fleet of Ukraine is in a depressing state. Most of the equipment has developed a resource. Therefore, according to various estimates, only about three dozen "eights" can rise into the air.

Attempts were made to revive them independently and, by assigning their own designations, to pass them off as new samples, but it was not possible to achieve much success in this. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Ukrainian command expects American supplies so much.

At the end of last year, information appeared that Motor Sich and the Turkish company Aselsan signed an agreement to install CATS sighting stations on the Mi-8, replacing Canadian devices on Bayraktar TB2 drones.

CATS also has a television, thermal imaging channels, a laser rangefinder and a high-precision weapons guidance channel, an auto-tracking function for targets.

An agreement has been reached on the integration of Turkish-made high-precision air-to-ground missiles already used on attack UAVs into the helicopter armament.

Alexey Brusilov