Ukrainian Armed Forces did not wait for the Iroquois helicopters by the Independence Day

Independence Day of Ukraine, celebrated by the country on August 24, passed without American helicopters of Ukrainian production "Iroquois". According to Defense Express, the Ukroboronprom concern could not clearly explain the reason for the delay in the production of the helicopter.

The general director of the concern, Yuri Gusev, promised to assemble the first Iroquois at the Odessa Aviation Plant for the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's independence. However, the UH-1 Iroquois have not yet taken to the skies. Ukroboronprom noted that the helicopters were not delivered on time due to a large number of licensing procedures for which there was not enough time. However, the company's management did not explain why the existence of these procedures, apparently, became known only a few days before the "deadline" announced by Yuri Gusev himself.



Earlier, the director also noted that the licensed assembly of American rotorcraft will be launched by the end of this year. The concern announced the possibility of SKD assembly of helicopters at the Odessa Aviation Plant, which is planned to be localized in the future, that is, to use locally produced components.

The Ukrainian newspaper notes that the failure of the Iroquois was inevitable, since at first it was about the Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopters. But Bell Textron did not issue permits to Ukroboronprom for the production of these helicopters. Later it turned out that it was not even about cooperation with Bell Textron, but about a project with a little-known company Southwest Florida Aviation from Florida, which repairs Bell helicopters. It is not Ukroboronprom itself that is trying to cooperate with it, but another American company Aviastar Invest Corp, which does not even have a website.

It turns out that the entire role of Ukroboronprom in the production of helicopters at the Odessa Aviation Plant, most likely, boils down to leasing workshops to a private company that will carry out SKD assembly of helicopters under the SW (Southwest Florida) brand. That is, there is no need to talk about new machines, because 60-year-old helicopters repaired with 30-year-old components may well be hidden behind them.