While you and I may know it, it is possible that most of the U.S. public doesn’t know it. Note that the country that makes the Mi-17 isn’t mentioned….
Defense Technology, Inc.*, Huntsville, Ala., is being awarded a $43,460,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of four Mi-17 variant helicopters and related tool kits for the Afghan National Army Air Corps. Work will be performed in Kabul, Afghanistan, and is expected to be completed in September 2009. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals; four offers were received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity (N00019-09-C-0089).
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Capitalism at work. Move on, nothing to see here.
They were already operating Russian helos, so the learning curve is less.
The Navy also bought them An-32s. Cheap equipment that they’re more familiar with isn’t such a bad idea.