{"id":52822,"date":"2018-07-27T16:58:14","date_gmt":"2018-07-27T16:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/07\/27\/senators-question-strategy-to-transition-afghan-air-force-from-russian-to-us-helicopter-fleet\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:48:11","slug":"senators-question-strategy-to-transition-afghan-air-force-from-russian-to-us-helicopter-fleet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2018\/07\/27\/senators-question-strategy-to-transition-afghan-air-force-from-russian-to-us-helicopter-fleet\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghans are switching from Russian to US helicopters, but senators are concerned over the approach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 It took years for the Pentagon to change its strategy of buying Russian-made Mi-17<\/a> helicopters for the Afghan Air Force to fielding American-made UH-60A Black Hawks<\/a> following heavy pressure from Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now the transition from flying and maintaining Mi-17s to UH-60As in Afghanistan is presenting predictable problems for the AAF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senators that have long championed the switch from Russian to American helicopters in Afghanistan want to see a full examination of the challenges and, subsequently, solutions to fix the identified issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issues were laid out in a recent Lead Inspector General quarterly report to Congress on Operation Freedom\u2019s Sentinel.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe share the concerns outlined in the report and urge you to immediately develop and implement a plan to address these emerging challenges,\u201d Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, wrote in a July 26 letter sent to Under Secretary of Defense for Policy John Rood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Afghan Air Force has relied on Mi-17 helicopters \u2014 manufactured by Russian arms dealer Rosoboronexport \u2014 for many years, supplied by the U.S. government as a nonstandard rotary wing procurement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army officials have argued that the service needed to buy Mi-17s because the Afghans already know how to fly the aircraft, while American-made helicopters are too expensive and complicated. Additionally, the only avenue through which military versions of the Mi-17s could be purchased was through Rosoboronexport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blumenthal has challenged that decision in countless public hearings over the years. He led the charge to insert legislation into the fiscal 2015 defense policy bill to terminate existing Mi-17 contracts with Rosoboronexport that also imposed other strong limitations on dealings with the company due to its activity of providing weapons to Bashar Assad\u2019s government in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Defense inked several contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to buy roughly 73 Mi-17s for the Afghans from 2011 through 2013. The Army stopped its purchases without buying another 15 aircraft planned in the FY14 budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two years ago, Blumenthal and Ernst specifically urged then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter to make the switch to American-made helicopters for the Afghan Air Force, and in 2017 the Pentagon initiated a transition to replace Mi-17s with 159 of the earliest variant of Sikorsky\u2019s Black Hawk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transition is now a part of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces RoadMap approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\t