Rosoboronexport, a member of Rostec, signed a contract with Bangladesh’s Air Force for supply of five Mi-171Sh military transport helicopters. The signing ceremony was held in presence of the Chief of the Air Staff of the Bangladesh Air Force, Chief Air Marshal Abu Esrar.
“Bangladesh is focused on upgrading the national aircraft pool. We are happy that the state picked Russian high-quality equipment. We signed a contract to supply five Mi-171Sh helicopters to our partners. This is to be implemented in 2018,” said Director General Alexander Mikheev of Rosoboronexport.
The fact that the contract was signed attests to stable high-level cooperation between Russia and Bangladesh. Rosoboronexport delivered Mi-17s, Yak-130 combat-trainers, and armored equipment to the Bangladeshi Ministry of Defense between 2013 and 2016.
“We negotiated with the Bangladesh delegation visiting HeliRussia-2017 late in May this year. Russian aviation equipment piqued the interest of not only representatives of the country’s Armed Forces but other agencies as well. Besides, Rosoboronexport conducts consultations for supply of civilian Ansats and Mi-171s to Bangladesh,” added Alexander Mikheev.
In 2006-2016, no one ever surpassed Russian Mi-17s on the world market of medium utility and military-transport helicopters as far as volume of sales goes. With 800 exported, this helicopter left all its foreign counterparts put together lagging behind.
