Myanmar Junta Becomes the First Foreign Operator of Russian Mi-38 Helicopters

A ceremony of acceptance of three Russian Mi-38 helicopters was held in the Myanmar capital Nay Pyi Taw with the participation of the head of the military regime.

The junta received two transport Mi-38Ts and one in a VIP version for the transportation of high-ranking officials, as shown by Myawady.

Myanmar has become the first actual foreign recipient of the new Mi-38 helicopters manufactured by Kazan Helicopters company.

The contract for the supply of these three Mi-38s to Myanmar was probably signed in January 2020, when Rosoboronexport announced that it had “signed the first contract with a foreign customer for the supply of the latest Mi-38T airborne transport helicopters.”

In September 2020, the then CEO of Russian Helicopters, Andrey Boginsky, stated regarding the Mi-38 that “we have a signed contract and received an advance payment from a foreign customer for three helicopters.”

Later, in 2021-2022, it was reported that the first foreign customer was a ‘Southeast Asian country’.

The implementation of the contract was apparently delayed due to the lengthy refinement of the Mi-38 helicopter and its TV7-117V engines, as well as military and political events in Myanmar, including the military coup of February 1, 2021, and the subsequent civil war.

In March 2022, Myanmar opposition resources disseminated leaked documents from Rosoboronexport and Russian Helicopters on Russia’s military-technical cooperation with Myanmar in the field of military helicopters.

Among this documentation was Rosoboronexport’s commercial offer to Myanmar dated November 22, 2019, for a contract for two transport Mi-38Ts and one Salon Mi-38T, which is likely to be signed in January 2020.

According to this proposal, Rosoboronexport requested €18.89 million for each Mi-38T transport and €21.9 million for the Salon version of the Mi-38T helicopter. In addition, it cost €1.48 million for optional equipment for two Mi-38T transports, €2.17 million for flight and ground crew training, and group sets of equipment for helicopter maintenance could have amounted to up to 30% of the cost of the helicopters themselves.

Thus, the total contract value is estimated at up to €80 million.

Taking into account these three Myanmar helicopters, Russia has built four prototypes of the Mi-38 and, since 2019, a total of 12 flight production models. Earlier, Russia ordered ultra-expensive Mi-38 helicopters for the Ministry of Emergency Situations.