Negotiations between the Argentine Air Force and Russian Helicopters company over Mi-171E company for the overhaul of the Mi-171E reached a new milestone recently.
This was known by the Zona Militar, which maintained contacts with both actors and was able to gather information on the status of the negotiations, which are now very advanced, with only one confirmation from the Russian counterpart remaining.
The two Mi-171E units of the force have reached the limit of 2000 hours of flight time, which means that major work must be done on the cell, systems and engine.
With ups and downs in the negotiations, which included contacts with companies not certified by the Russian company and which caused a prolonged silence between both actors, the Argentine Air Force is currently waiting for the acceptance of its counter-proposal on some minimum details, among which is the number of Russian personnel who must come to the country to carry out part of the work.
The contract for the ICM of both units consists of carrying out part of the work in Argentina, being this the work on the helicopter cells. In this sense, the arrival of Russian personnel is foreseen so that, together with Argentinean mechanics, they can work on the painting and the state of the structure. Russian sources have mentioned to this media that the work includes transferring this know-how to the Argentine qualified personnel.
In the facilities of the Area Material Quilmes, the helicopters will be dismantled to advance with the work on the cells. On the other hand, complex systems such as engines, hydraulics and others will be dispatched on a transport flight to Russia, where the overhaul work on these components will be carried out.
After consultations due to the delays in the closing of the contract and the progress of the works, it has been mentioned that at present everything responds to the Russian times, which are dilated by the system of self-quarantine imposed there around the coronavirus. “The ball is in the Russian court,” he said, while Argentina is waiting for Russian Helicopters to agree to reduce the number of Russian personnel in the country by half in order to reduce the costs of the service.
The works will require between 7 and 8 months per unit and will have a Russian guarantee of 1 year or 300 flight hours, whichever comes first. Once the works have been carried out, the aircraft will have a useful life of another 2000 hours until they reach conditions similar to those found today.
You may be interested in: FAdeA delivers new IA-63 Pampa III
