Russia, U.S. to build helicopter maintenance center in Afghanistan

[xchrom]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-06/02/c_13908199.htm

MOSCOW, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Russia and the United States will jointly establish a repair center in Afghanistan for the Mi-17 helicopters bought by Washington for Afghan armed forces, a Russian military official said Thursday.

Vyacheslav Dzirkaln of the Russian Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation said the two countries have agreed that such a joint project would be necessary because the transportation of the helicopters to Europe for repairs would be too costly.

The Russian arms export corporation, Rosoboronexport, last month signed a contract with the U.S. to supply 21 Mi-17V5 multi-purpose helicopters for use in Afghanistan.




:shrug: huh. not an article i would expect to read.

[BanzaiBonnie]

1. Wuhhhhhhh?

[xchrom]

2. i know, huh? nt

[jtuck004]

3. This country lost how many trying to keep the Russians out, .

the Mujahadin, the good guys just trying to save their villages, with our help? Now we swoop in after years of killing people to say "Here, meet my friend Vladimir". Wonder if they will bring any of the Russians who bombed and strafed their villages while they hid in caves?

Downed soviet helipcopters were prized for the parts that could be stripped from them. I wonder if locals will be hired since they already have experience stripping these.

I wonder how this is gonna work out?

[IDemo]

4. Nothing remotely ironic about that, is there?

See "Charlie Wilson's War" for more info.

[arbusto_baboso]

5. Wow, THAT oughta win some Afghan hearts and minds....

Is ANYONE in the beltway thinking this shit through???

[Ganja Ninja]

6. WTF.

:banghead: