The helicopters were delivered as part of the Defense Ministry's Single Acceptance Day for deliveries of military products, held as a videoconference between the ministry's National Defense Management Centre and six military enterprises across the country. All of the equipment was formally accepted by Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu.
“Fulfillment of the state defense order is a key strategic priority for us, as it is directly responsible for supporting the country's defense capabilities. Today we are carrying out an extensive upgrade program at our enterprises to boost their growth and efficiency, labor productivity and the quality of the military and commercial products that we manufacture,” said Russian Helicopters CEO Alexander Mikheev.
“In 2014 as part of the state defense order we have supplied Russia's Armed Forces with three Mi-8MTV-5-1s, and plan further deliveries of one Mi-8MTV-2, an additional 17 Mi-8MTV-5-1s and six Ansat-Us built at Kazan Helicopters,” he added.
The Mi-8MTV-5-1s delivered to the Defense Ministry underwent extensive testing and were accepted by the 639th Military Representation before being transferred to their duty station. During pre-acceptance testing and acceptance procedures the Military Representation conducted QA tests of build quality and component manufacturing and assembly quality.
The Mi-8MTV-5-1 is supplied to Russia's military and law-enforcement agencies, and is designed to transport up to 4,000 kg of cargo and equipment. It can also fly search-and-rescue missions and carry out a number of specialized tasks. The cockpit includes lighting systems specially adapted to allow the use of night-vision goggles, enabling the helicopter to fly in hours of darkness at low and extremely low altitudes, and to land on and take off from unprepared sites.
Over many years of operation, the Mi-8MTV-5 (export name Mi-17V-5) has demonstrated its ability to successfully fly missions in any climatic conditions, and is justifiably known as one of the finest helicopters in its class anywhere in the world.
The Defense Ministry is the largest client for Russian-built helicopters. Today Russian Helicopters delivers its full line-up of military helicopters to the Ministry in strict compliance with approved schedules - the light Ka-226 and Ansat-U training model, Mi-8/17 series transport models, the multi-role combat Mi-35M, the combat Mi-28N Night Hunter (including the dual-control version) and Ka-52 Alligator, as well as the heavy Mi-26 transport helicopter and helicopters for the Navy.
Kazan Helicopters produces Mi-8/17 series helicopters that are operated in over 100 countries worldwide. A wide range of configurations are produced: transport, passenger, search and rescue, landing and transport, among many others. Preparations are underway to launch production of the Mi-38 passenger transport helicopter. Since 1997, Kazan Helicopters has been certified to develop helicopter technology. Today the light twin-engine Ansat helicopter is in series production.
