Russian Helicopters Holding Company (part of Rostec State Corporation) fulfilled the first service contract in the interests of the Lao Ministry of Defense, having transferred a batch of four Mi-17 helicopters at the official ceremony. The helicopters were repaired by a mobile group of specialists of JSC “356 ARP”, which is part of the Holding Company.

The transfer ceremony took place at the air base in Vientiane. The Lao Minister of Defence, Chansamone Chanyalath, and Chief of General Staff, Suvon Luongbunmi, inspected the repaired Mi-17 helicopters. During the official event, a crew of the Lao Air Force performed a demonstration flight in a repaired helicopter.

“The Holding Company is always ready to offer the most comfortable conditions for its customers in terms of both supplying helicopters and rendering after-sales services. Upon the request of the Lao party, we prepared a proposal for the repair of another batch of Mi-17 type helicopters. We hope the decision will be made in the near future,” noted Andrey Boginskiy, Director General of Russian Helicopters.

At the end of the event, the parties held negotiations related to the supplies of new helicopters and further cooperation in the area of service support of the earlier supplied rotorcraft.

The Lao aviation fleet comprises over 20 civil and military helicopters produced by the Holding Company’s enterprises. In addition to Mi-8/17 type helicopters, the country operates medium utility Ka-32T helicopters.