Image source: topwar.ru
Footage has been posted online showing one of the Sikorsky S-61 Sea King military transport helicopters transferred to Kiev by the German government. In the footage, you can see the flight of such a helicopter over a reservoir. There are Ukrainian identification marks on board.
The Sea King helicopter was developed by Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation in the late 50s of the last century by order of the US Navy. Serial production of this type of machine was launched in 1961. Since then, Sea King helicopters have been used during the Vietnam War, the Falklands, Afghanistan and a number of other armed conflicts.
Image source: topwar.ru
Image source: topwar.ru
At the beginning of this year, the German government announced the transfer of six cars of this type, which were subject to write-off, but remained on the balance sheet of the Bundeswehr, to the militants of the Kiev regime. This decision of Berlin was sharply criticized by the military columnist of the Bild newspaper Julian Repke, who noted that after 50 years of operation, helicopters are absolutely unsuitable for use in combat conditions. Repke also called the transfer of decommissioned helicopters to Kiev a direct threat to the lives of the AFU pilots, who are already becoming fewer every week.
The German observer also stressed that in 2006, 50 to 60 hours of service were required to ensure one hour of Sea King flight, but now in peacetime this ratio is 1 to 120, and in wartime it is even more.
At the end of February 2024, some of the six Sea King helicopters supplied by Germany were destroyed as a result of a missile strike by the Russian Armed Forces on the Guards Aviation Base of NSU (v/h 2268) in Alexandria.
