The official ceremony of transferring six helicopters produced by a Russian Helicopters’ subsidiary – Kazan Helicopters – took place at the Machulischi airport near Minsk today.  The ceremony was attended by the Belarusian Minister of Defense, the Air Force and Air Defense commander and top management of Russian Helicopters.

The military transport Mi-8MTV-5 helicopters were delivered to the Ministry of Defense of Belarus in October.  Today, during the ceremony, the rotorcraft was transferred to the personnel of the 50th combined airbase of the Belarusian Air Force.  During the event military pilots demonstrated the capabilities of the Russian machines.  This was also the indication that Russian Helicopters has finished the first part of the contract for delivery of 12 Russian-made Mi-8MTV-5s, which had been signed during the Army-2015 International Military Technical Forum.

“We maintain constant business contacts with military and civilian agencies of that country. Helicopters supplied to the Belarusian Ministry of Defense have repeatedly demonstrated their high-performance flight characteristics, have the newest equipment and are capable of solving a wide range of tasks.  We expect that the transfer of the next batch of 6 helicopters will take place in 2017,” said Russian Helicopters CEO Alexander Mikheev. 

Mi-8MTV-5 multirole helicopter is part of the Mi-8/17 family.  These helicopters are used in medical and search-and-rescue operations; they carry out cargo and passenger transportation.  As of today, more than 12 thousand helicopters of the Mi-8/17 series have been produced and delivered to 100 countries.  Over many years of operation, the Mi-8/17 type helicopters produced by Kazan Helicopters and by Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant have proven that they can successfully perform tasks in any climatic conditions and are justifiably the most numerous and one of the world’s best in their class.