Pentagon Cancels Plan to Buy More Russian Helicopters

Reuters15.11.2013 North America
Pentagon Cancels Plan to Buy More Russian Helicopters

Pentagon Cancels Plan to Buy More Russian Helicopters

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The Pentagon will no longer buy Russian helicopters for the Afghan Air Force from Rosoboronexport, U.S. Defense Officials and a leading Senate opponent of such deals said.


The switch in Pentagon policy appears to end, at least for now, its plans to buy an additional 15 Russian Mi-17 helicopters for $345 million, sources familiar with the matter said.

Defense Department Spokeswoman Maureen Schumann said in an email: “After initially requesting funds from Congress in the 2014 fiscal year budget to provide additional enhancements for the Afghan National Security Forces, the Department has re-evaluated requirements in consultation with Congress.”

“We currently do not have plans to purchase additional Mi17s from Rosoboronexport beyond those in the Afghan Program of Record,” she said.

The Pentagon had planned to purchase 63 new Mi-17s from Rosoboronexport for nearly $1.1 billion, defense officials told Congress in August. It is unclear how many of those 63 have been delivered.

Senior Pentagon officials had previously defended the deals with Rosoboronexport - which were to total $1.1 billion over several years - as the fastest way to outfit the Afghan Air Force before most U.S. troops leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

But the Pentagon’s relationship with the company and other foreign contractors involved in the program has faced bipartisan criticism in the U.S. Congress. Critics cited Rosoboronexport’s deals with Syria; the helicopters’ escalating costs; and federal procurement investigations involving the Russian helicopter project.

Reuters reported in August that the Defense Criminal Investigative Service had opened a criminal probe into the Huntsville, Alabama, Army aviation unit that oversees the Mi-17 program, and ties between the unit’s former Chief and two foreign subcontractors. No charges have been filed in the case.

It remains unclear whether the Pentagon has alternative plans to bolster the Afghan Air Force’s capabilities to fight militants and drug trafficking.

 

Source: Reuters

 



 
 

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