NATO very interested in Macedonian night-vision equipped Mi-24V helicopters

Here is some information about what’s happening in the MAF. Macedonia has went from nothing to a very modern helicopter force in only a few years. More helicopter deliveries are expected in the future.

25.nov.2005 By Igor Bozinovski

After their recent modernization by Elbit Systems of Israel, NATO is
interested in including the Macedonian Air Force (Makedonsko Voeno
Vozduhoplovstvo) night-vision equipped Mi-24V Hind-E helicopters in
peacekeeping missions, especially operations for medical evacuation, which are rather expensive. The NATO military representatives of the Anti-aircraft Defence Committee already flew with the two modernized helicopters and gave a positive assessment. Although the Mi-24 helicopters are not a standard helicopter model in NATO, the NATO military leadership still highly evaluated their performances. “The Macedonian Air Force is rapidly approaching the structure that NATO requires. It will thus be much easier to cooperate in multinational operations,” stated Major-General Manfred Lange of NATO’s Anti- aircraft Defence Committee.

Macedonia’s first Strategic Defense Review called for upgrading part of the existing fleet of Mi-17 and Mi-24 fleet, an upgrade that should be focused on providing the aircraft with the ability to use night vision equipment as well as NATO/ICAO-compatible communication, navigation and identification equipment required for NATO/Partnership for Peace (PfP) exercises and peacekeeping missions. The process of serious preparing of Macedonia’s Air Force for future contributing to NATO operations has finally been initiated in December 2003 when Macedonian Government awarded Elbit Systems of Israel with a US 2 million contract for limited (first-stage) upgrade of two Mi-17 (serials VAM 302 and VAM-303) and two Mi-24V (serials 209 and 210) helicopters. The upgrade of selected helicopters started at Petrovec air
base, near Skopje, in February 2004 and was completed some eight months later. All four aircraft involved in this modernization are now again operational and have redesigned cockpit layout, adopted for night vision goggle (NVG) operations, and are also equipped with Aviator’s Night Vision Head-Up Display (ANVIS/HUD) System. By equipping its aircraft with ANVIS/HUDs, Macedonian Air Force become one of a very few operators of Night-operation Mi-17 and Mi-24 helicopters worldwide, even before NATO-member countries Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Bulgaria.

Satisfied with the successful completion of initially signed contract,
Macedonian Government and Elbit Systems are now negotiating a 20 million USD follow-on upgrade contract for six helicopters (one Mi-17, three Mi-8MT and two Mi-24V helicopters) that were not involved in the first stage. That way, with the already modernized four helicopters (two Mi-17 and two Mi-24), at the end of 2006 Macedonia should have 10 modernized helicopters i.e. the complete Mi-8MT/Mi-17 fleet and half of the Mi-24 fleet. The next upgrade would equip the helicopters with new communication, identification and navigation systems, including multifunctional displays and digital moving map. Macedonia also plans a more advanced second-stage upgrade for another two so far non- modernized Mi-24V helicopters, now known to be serials MAF-201 and MAF-205. The Mi-24 upgrade package will incorporate the complete first-stage upgrade, plus the second-stage Mi-17 upgrade supplemented by improved radar warning receivers and chaff/flare dispensers and a third-generation gyro-stabilized multi-sensor payload (TV camera, FLIR, auto-tracker and laser rangefinder/laser designator) integrated with helmet sight, multifunctional displays and digital moving map display that will replace the earlier paper map system. The two Mi-24V helicopters that are planed for the second-stage modernization have just returned in Macedonia from overhaul that was performed by the AVIAKON Aviation Repair Facility located in the town of Konotop, Ukraine. Those two helicopters are finished in new and unique camouflage scheme with full English-language inscriptions all over the airframe and inside the cockpit.