Eleven former Afghan Air Force Mi-17V-5 helicopters ready for Ukraine
On 18 June 2022, a set of photographs originating from the second half of May 2022 was shared on the Facebook page of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and also on Ukraine Weapons Tracker, a Twitter account which records the traffic and use of weapons in Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
The pictures show eleven Mi-17V-5 helicopters in desert camouflage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson (AZ). the helicopters are all ex Afghan Air Force (AAF) which have been rescued during the US retreat from the country in August 2021 and have since been in storage at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG).
In total, 73 of these Kazan-built helicopters were originally purchased by the United States to assist the Afghan military under a larger contract originating in 2011, but after US President Joe Biden ordered troops to withdraw from the country, only a fraction of the aircraft were able to escape, either via Tajikistan and Uzbekistan or United Arab Emirates.
The eleven Mi-17V-5 helicopters were loaded into USAF C-17A Globemaster III transport aircraft and flown to Sliac (Slovakia) where they will receive some maintenance and most probably a new coat of paint before being handed over to Ukraine. The transfer to Ukrainian Armed Forces are part of the White House’s USD 800 million aid package for the country announced in April 2022, with financing being provided from Fiscal Year 2022 special funds.
The serials of three of the eleven Mi-17V-5s are still missing. If you have information, please let us know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Photo via Davis-Monthan Air Force Base