Russia to supply 30 Motor Sich-powered copters to Afghanistan in 2014
8 July 2013
The Russian Federation will supply 30 MI-17 helicopters to the Afghan government equipped with TV3-117-SBM1V engines built by Motor Sich (MSICH UK), the company reported via Interfax on July 5. Signed in June between the Russian government and the U.S. Department of the Army, the contract is the second U.S.-financed supply of MI-17s to Afghanistan since 2011.
Roman Dmytrenko: The fact that a Russian helicopter producer chose a new version of the TV3-117 model for a contract with the U.S. Army confirms the engine’s superiority to the older Russian model, the VK-2500 (an analogue of outdated TV3-117-VMA). Recall in December 2012, Russia’s Klimov Corp. announced it produced the first 100% Russian-made VK-2500 engine and announced plans to produce 50 units in 2013 and up to 500 units in 2015. It took about a decade to assemble this engine, borrowing the technology from Motor Sich. Yet ironically, during that same decade, Motor Sich launched a production of modernized TV3-117-VMA engine (called SBM1V) to remain on the cutting edge of progress.
