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DATE:03/03/10
SOURCE:Flight International
UK showcases Mi-17 training work with Afghan crews
By Craig Hoyle
The UK Ministry of Defence has lifted the veil on a previously secretive helicopter training service being provided to future Afghan national security force pilots.
Details of the Project Curium activity were revealed at the MoD's Boscombe Down facility in Wiltshire on 3 March, along with information on a pair of Mil Mi-17 transports photographed in the circuit at the base and over the nearby Salisbury Plain Training Area since early last year.
Painted in the colours of the Qinetiq-managed Empire Test Pilots' School and carrying the registrations ZB697 and ZB698, the Russian-built aircraft were sourced from surplus Bulgarian air force stocks. Flightglobal's HeliCAS database says both were built in 1985.
The MoD confirms that "Afghan pilots and aircrew have been training with the UK Joint Helicopter Command with support from Qinetiq" using the transports. The students will serve as "the seed corn of an indigenous Afghan national security force helicopter capability", it adds.
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Several crews have already completed their instruction in the UK and returned to Afghanistan, and the MoD says "initial reports suggest they are a well-respected, competent and motivated cadre of professionals. The students have made remarkable progress, mastering a complex task in a foreign language."
In total, 18 pilots and nine flight engineers will have received instruction under the programme, which will conclude on 31 March.
Work started in February 2008, with 60h of basic training performed using a Eurocopter Gazelle and 45h of Mi-17 flying conducted per pilot from May 2009.
The programme was supported by more than 25 Qinetiq staff and 12 personnel from the MoD's Special Duties Squadron.
Engineering support for the Mi-17s was provided by Lithuanian maintenance and repair company Helisota.
The Afghan national army air corps has an inventory of 28 Mi-8/17s, as listed in HeliCAS. This includes a batch of four new Mi-17s acquired for the service by the US Navy within a 65-day period last year.