Kazakhstan is to buy 14 state-of-the-art helicopter gun-ships from the Kazan
plant in Tatarstan over the next two years, the Kazakh newspaper Ekspress K
reported on January 9th. The commander of the Kazakh Air Defence Forces,
Major-General Kopen Akhmadiyev, said that the Mi-17V-5 helicopters would be
used primarily to protect the capital, ferry paratroops to possible conflict
zones and to escort the president. He also said that the air defence forces
would be working on far more complicated tasks during exercises this year.
The following is an excerpt from the interview “A helicopter boom early this
year”, by Vladimir Severnyy.
The Kazakh army is arming itself with super-state-of-the-art Russian aviation technology and weapons.
Subheadings are inserted editorially:
The air crash near the village of Lenger, 45 km from Shymkent (Tolebi
District of South Kazakhstan Region), on 19 January 2001, from which the
former Kazakh defence minister, Sat Tokpakbayev, and officers from the
General Staff of the Kazakh armed forces, narrowly escaped, was the last
straw that exhausted the cup of “helicopter patience”.
[The investigations into the incident concluded that the helicopter was obsolete]
Kazakhstan to get state-of-art gun-ships
http://www.kazanhelicopters.com/im/upload/mi-17v59236507.jpg
So, finally, some good news has arrived from Tatarstan (Russian Federation) together with a hugely expensive rotary-winged “firstling” – a helicopter of the latest generation, which is a great rarity for the Russian air force, too.
Under the existing programme Kazakhstan is supposed in the next year or two to buy from Kazan (the capital of Tatarstan) helicopter plant in all 14 new Mi-MTV-5 (the export version is the Mi-17V-5) helicopters, at a cost of $4M each. The commander of the air defence forces of the Kazakh armed forces, Maj-Gen Kopen Akhmadiyev, told an Ekspress K correspondent yesterday about some of the advantages of this super-state-of-the-art helicopter:
“This is a helicopter that combines transport, gunship and reconnaissance and rescue operations in one. It is capable of flying at an altitude of over 6,000 metres, carrying 36 paratroopers on board with their kit. Also, the Mi-17V-5 is equipped with the latest navigation system, high-precision weapons and various technical improvements.”
Specialists think that the new Russian helicopter is really good. It can be used equally effectively during the daytime and at night, in mountainous terrain and on the plains.
Tasks of new gun-ship
“The key task that the crew of the Mi-17V-5 are to carry out is, first of all, is to cover the airspace over Astana [the Kazakh capital], take para- troopers to the site of possible military conflict, and also to escort the supreme commander of the Kazakh army, President Nursultan Nazarbayev,” Kopen Akhmadiyev’s deputy, Col Nikolay Sorokin, continues the conversation which was started with Akhmadiyev.
It came to light that in emergencies, the Mi-17V-5 is capable of taking on board up to 70 paratroopers, and has a range of over 1,000 km without landing. This is particularly crucial for our mobile forces.
http://www.kazanhelicopters.com/im/upload/mi-17v501515025.jpg
Capabilities of the gun-ship
“The Russian Mi-8MTV-5 helicopters have proved themselves excellently during
the present-day armed conflicts,” the chief of army and military-air
transport of the Kazakh armed forces, Col Anatoliy Lutskiy, said. “They
carried infantry in hot and cold weather, landed paratroopers on limited
spaces, pulled the wounded out of battlefield, fired at terrorist positions,
delivered cargo, mail, foodstuff and so on. This is an excellent and
reliable machine, and is a very important acquisition for the defence of our
homeland.”
The Mi-17V-5 is equipped with special shear-cutters, which, if the helicopter collides with a high-voltage electric power line, prevent it from getting entangled in the wire, that is, from falling on the ground and burning up. The powerful floodlight on board enables the helicopter to follow a target, and it has armoured panels to protect the crew from bullets and shell fragments, and a special trap for missiles.
Air defence forces for more complicated exercises
“Four of our crews have already undergone retraining in Kazan,” Maj-Gen Kopen Akhmadiyev continues. “We are not going to stop there. Incidentally, this year we will make the activities on exercises considerably complicated for all air defence forces specialists. We will improve skills in detecting and working on high-speed and highly-mobile targets. These targets will be covered by image interference. For example, we put up aircraft from Taldykorgan (southern Almaty Region). The pilots will not know where the target will be coming from. We will give them the co-ordinates over Saryshagan [training ground in central Karaganda Region]. And there, over the huge territory of the training ground, they will have to spot the target and destroy it. The task will be a realistic one. Also, we will make the task for our radar troops difficult. We will certainly come to spotting targets with more complex characteristics at minimum altitudes.
Obsolete helicopters will be renovated
Vladimir Severnyy: “General Akhmadiyev, sooner or later the helicopter pool
will be renewed, yet the air defence forces still have many obsolete
helicopters. What will be done with them?”
Akhmadiyev: “We will carry out the necessary scheduled technical servicing, repair the equipment that needs repairing and put it right. Almaty’s plant No. 405, I hope, will help us in this. Incidentally, we maintain very good business relations with this plant.”
Source: BBC Monitoring Central Asia (January 9th, 2003)
http://www.kazanhelicopters.com/im/upload/Mi17V5_1787091.jpg
Defence Minister of Kazakhstan Highly Praises Russian Mi-17V-5
On Tuesday during training and demonstration flights over the aerodrome of
the capital city’s garrison in Astana, General of the Army Mukhtar Altyn-
bayev, defence minister of Kazakhstan, piloted a Russian MI-17V-5 helicopter
and highly praised it.
The minister pointed out the multi-functionality of the helicopter and added that in any time of the day and under any meteorological conditions the helicopter was capable of supporting troops with fire, to carry out air reconnaissance, to land simultaneously 36 air troopers with equipment, to participate in search and evacuation of people in distress, sick and injured.
The helicopter is equipped with powerful engine, advanced navigation system and highly accurate weaponry. The helicopter got two doors in case of emerg- ency landing.
The minister reported that the Defence Ministry of Kazakhstan within the framework of military and technical co-operation with Russia concluded a contract to procure 14 of such craft to fully replace its outdated fleet. Kazakhstan was the first CIS state to procure super-modern aviation equipment.
The helicopter was supplied by the Kazan (Volga district) Aircraft Works.
Source: RIA Novosti (14th January, 2003)
—
Steve / Touchdown-News
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January 16, 2003 at 12:59 pm
