Russian Rather Than U.S. Helicopters For Iraq and Afghanistan Raising Eyebrows

The United States and its allies have been assisting Afghanistan and Iraq in establishing their new national armed forces. This has included training, equipment and support through direct military involvement as well as contractors. The Iraqi government has slowly been spending its money to buy new equipment. Much of this has been Western rather then the traditional Soviet equipment that they used to buy.

As part of this Iraq purchased some Mi-17 transport helicopters from the Russian manufacturer. In a move that is raising Congressional eyebrows the United States bought some of the same for use in Afghanistan. Due to a shortage of heavy lift and transport helicopters many Russian aircraft are being used their through leases especially by the non-U.S. troops deployed there. The U.S. has been buying ammunition for the Russian small arms from overseas suppliers.

The Mi-17 is the standard medium transport helicopter of the Russian military and has been built for several years. It is an upgrade of the Mi-8 first flown in the 1960’s. Both Iraq and Afghanistan have flown the helicopter in the past before the U.S. invasions. Just like keeping the AK-47 and other Russian small arms in use it makes sense for these countries to have equipment they are familiar with and might have a supply of parts and support equipment.

The contract that has raised Congressional concerns is one that has ARINC acting as a go-between paid by the U.S. Army to get Iraq twenty-two Mi-17. Some in Congress felt that this should have been a competed contract for the aircraft rather then going directly to the Russian supplier. They believe that Sikorsky for example could have bid UH-60 Black Hawks instead. To add to the concerns the aircraft have yet to be delivered to Iraq despite the contract being let almost three years ago.

Technically it is Iraq’s money and they may buy whatever equipment they want from whomever they want. Politically it might make sense for them to buy as much American equipment as they can and they are doing this with the purchase of twenty-four Bell 407 reconnaissance helicopters.

It may be though that they felt the Mi-17 was a better fit for their capabilities and the price was right as well. The U.S. is just facilitating this deal with some money off of the top for the Army and ARINC and it might have been at the time the Iraq Defense Ministry did not have the resources to do this kind of deal.

Politics will always be involved in Foreign Military Sales (FMS) as countries want to keep their defense contractors and their workers employed. Sometimes overseas sales have been for equipment the recipient is not ready to operate of maintain effectively as it may be too complex for the support structure. Sometimes it is so different from the rest of the possessed equipment that it does not fit in to their structures and mind sets. That might have been the case here.