Russia, US sign deal to send choppers to Afghanistan
May 28th, 2011 - 12:05 am ICT by IANSMoscow, May 27 (IANS/RIA Novosti) The US and Russia have signed a contract for the supply of multipurpose helicopters to Afghanistan, a Russian spokesman said Friday.
The deal was sealed between US Army Forces Command and Russia’s state-controlled arms exporter Rosoboronexport. They would supply 21 Mi-17V5 multipurpose helicopters to Afghanistan, said the spokesman from the Russian Federal Service of Military-Technical Cooperation.
The two countries were in talks for more than a year to provide the much needed vehicles for the NATO mission in Afghanistan.
Gen. Abdul Wahab Wardak, chief of staff of the Afghanistan Air Force, said the cost of one helicopter was agreed at $17.5 million.
The first helicopters would be sent to Afghanistan in October 2011.
The Mi-17 is an export version of the Mi-8 Hip helicopter. Currently in production at two factories in the Russian Volga area city of Kazan and the East Siberian city of Ulan-Ude, it features powerful turboshaft engines and can transport up to 37 passengers.
In May 2010, the US lifted sanctions against Rosoboronexport that it had earlier blacklisted from tendering for US arms deals. The sanctions were imposed in 2006 after the US accused Rosoboronexport of violating the nuclear non-proliferation regime.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
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