$171 MILLION TO GO FOR RUSSIAN MILITARY HELICOPTER
DEFENSE WASTE JULY 24, 2012 BY: RAY ROBISON
The Department of Defense (DoD) recently announced the award of a $171,380,636 contract to buy Russian made helicopters. The helicopters are likely bound for Afghanistan to be used by the Afghan military. DoD previously purchased $367m with a follow on order of $46m for 23 Russian helicopters and parts.
Although it looks like congress is going to kill the purchase, the question has to be asked, at a time of high unemployment and economic malaise, why wouldn’t the Pentagon seek a U.S. supplier for nearly a billion dollars worth of helicopters? If that wasn’t possible, why not at least find a better trading partner, especially given the Russian governments spoiler efforts against US foreign policy, most recently in Syria?
The reason given by the Pentagon is that Afghan pilots are already familiar with the Mi-17. It would take at least a year to get Afghan pilots trained on a US system. Would it really take longer to train them on a new system than it would take the Russians to build this fleet of helicopters?
Consider what will happen to these helicopters once we leave. Ask any U.S. military pilot who has worked with the military aviation wing of a partner nation in that part of the world or the Middle East. These fellows are not known for strict aviation standards and maintenance programs. Within a few years of our departure most of these helicopters will be grounded. Many will be crashed and the rest stolen by Afghani officials to support their criminal activities.
Surely it would be more cost effective to simply turn over some of our aging military helicopters. It’s likely the money to replace those is already on the books. Then at least we get the benefit of more jobs.
