The Colombian authorities have decided to modernize the fleet of Soviet-made Mi-17 helicopters. The country's Ministry of Defense has allocated $63 million for these purposes. This is reported by Bulgarian Military.
The head of the Colombian Ministry of Defense, Ivan Velasquez, said that the helicopters need to be urgently returned to service.
We hope to sign a maintenance contract this year.
According to him, the government is looking for contractors in the United States to repair and modernize the Mi-17. So far, only 2 companies have such experience.
Colombia has a fleet of American UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, but their maintenance requires large expenditures.
The Mi-17 is a development of the Mi-8 helicopters with two TVZ-117MT engines and a take-off power of 1400kW. The helicopter was first shown at an exhibition in Paris in 1981. Currently, various modifications of the Mi-17 are produced by the Kazan Helicopter Plant.
Read more on the topic:
The fleet of Mi-17-1B helicopters of the Mexican Air Force turned out to be in a deplorable state
Defensa: Helicentro Peru will return Russian Mi-8MTV-1 and Mi-17-1B helicopters to service