Afghans are switching from Russian to US helicopters, but senators are concerned
By: Jen Judson 8 hours ago
Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters for the Afghan Air Force to fielding American-made UH-60A Black Hawks following heavy pressure from Congress.
And now the transition from flying and maintaining Mi-17s to UH-60As in Afghanistan is presenting predictable problems for the AAF.
The issues were laid out in a recent Lead Inspector General quarterly report to Congress on Operation Freedom’s Sentinel
The Afghan Air Force has relied on Mi-17 helicopters — manufactured by Russian arms dealer Rosoboronexport — for many years, supplied by the U.S. government as a nonstandard rotary wing procurement.
Army officials have argued that the service needed to buy Mi-17s because the Afghans already know how to fly the aircraft, while American-made helicopters are too expensive and complicated. Additionally, the only avenue through which military versions of the Mi-17s could be purchased was through Rosoboronexport.
The Department of Defense inked several contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to buy roughly 73 Mi-17s for the Afghans from 2011 through 2013. The Army stopped its purchases without buying another 15 aircraft planned in the FY14 budget.
Two years ago, Blumenthal and Ernst specifically urged then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter to make the switch to American-made helicopters for the Afghan Air Force, and in 2017 the Pentagon initiated a transition to replace Mi-17s with 159 of the earliest variant of Sikorsky’s Black Hawk.
The transition is now a part of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces RoadMap approach.
Army officials had warned of the difficulties of such a transition, particularly maintenance and training; and the IG report shows those struggles are coming to fruition.
Overreliance on contractor maintenance
While the Afghans perform 80 percent of the maintenance on Mi-17s and 20 percent is done by contractors, UH-60As are “almost entirely” by contract workers.
Capability challenges
As the Afghans transition from the Mi-17 to the UH-60, several operational challenges have cropped up regarding the Black Hawk’s capability related to the Mi-17.
The IG report said that the Black Hawk does not have the lift capacity comparable to Mi-17s and is unable to take on some of the larger cargo an Mi-17 carries, which requires two UH-60s to carry the load of one Mi-17.
Additionally, the Black Hawks can’t fly at the same high elevations as an Mi-17. As a result, the former cannot operate in remote areas of the country.
In the report ,the 9th AETF-A said the Mi-17s will play a “crucial role” in the near-term fighting season.
“In the future, as Mi-17s phase out of the service, the aforementioned challenges will become more pronounced,” the report adds.
Blumenthal and Ernst do not address these capability challenges in their letter to Rood, but state that “improved UH-60A Black Hawk capacity through aircraft deliveries and sustainable training programs both for AAF pilots and maintainers will address the transition challenges presented in the report.”
By: Jen Judson 8 hours ago
Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters for the Afghan Air Force to fielding American-made UH-60A Black Hawks following heavy pressure from Congress.
And now the transition from flying and maintaining Mi-17s to UH-60As in Afghanistan is presenting predictable problems for the AAF.
The issues were laid out in a recent Lead Inspector General quarterly report to Congress on Operation Freedom’s Sentinel
The Afghan Air Force has relied on Mi-17 helicopters — manufactured by Russian arms dealer Rosoboronexport — for many years, supplied by the U.S. government as a nonstandard rotary wing procurement.
Army officials have argued that the service needed to buy Mi-17s because the Afghans already know how to fly the aircraft, while American-made helicopters are too expensive and complicated. Additionally, the only avenue through which military versions of the Mi-17s could be purchased was through Rosoboronexport.
The Department of Defense inked several contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to buy roughly 73 Mi-17s for the Afghans from 2011 through 2013. The Army stopped its purchases without buying another 15 aircraft planned in the FY14 budget.
Two years ago, Blumenthal and Ernst specifically urged then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter to make the switch to American-made helicopters for the Afghan Air Force, and in 2017 the Pentagon initiated a transition to replace Mi-17s with 159 of the earliest variant of Sikorsky’s Black Hawk.
The transition is now a part of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces RoadMap approach.
Army officials had warned of the difficulties of such a transition, particularly maintenance and training; and the IG report shows those struggles are coming to fruition.
Overreliance on contractor maintenance
While the Afghans perform 80 percent of the maintenance on Mi-17s and 20 percent is done by contractors, UH-60As are “almost entirely” by contract workers.
Capability challenges
As the Afghans transition from the Mi-17 to the UH-60, several operational challenges have cropped up regarding the Black Hawk’s capability related to the Mi-17.
The IG report said that the Black Hawk does not have the lift capacity comparable to Mi-17s and is unable to take on some of the larger cargo an Mi-17 carries, which requires two UH-60s to carry the load of one Mi-17.
Additionally, the Black Hawks can’t fly at the same high elevations as an Mi-17. As a result, the former cannot operate in remote areas of the country.
In the report ,the 9th AETF-A said the Mi-17s will play a “crucial role” in the near-term fighting season.
“In the future, as Mi-17s phase out of the service, the aforementioned challenges will become more pronounced,” the report adds.
Blumenthal and Ernst do not address these capability challenges in their letter to Rood, but state that “improved UH-60A Black Hawk capacity through aircraft deliveries and sustainable training programs both for AAF pilots and maintainers will address the transition challenges presented in the report.”
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