Russia Accumulates 71 Mi-8 and Mi-24/35 Helicopters at Syzran Storage Facility

Russians have gathered 71 Mi-8 and Mi-24/35 helicopters at a helicopter airbase in Syzran, where they store aircraft that are no longer fit for flight.

Satellite images were shared by OSINT analyst The Military Watch on their X account.

Since 2022, 31 new helicopters have been added to the collection.

These are likely helicopters that have reached the end of their service life or those that were damaged during combat operations. They may be used as a source of spare parts to support the operational fleet.

Some of the helicopters are in a partially dismantled condition, which supports this assumption.

In 2023, it became known that Russia had requested the return of over a hundred previously sold engines from Egypt, Pakistan, Belarus, and Brazil.

In April 2022, a Russian delegation arrived in Cairo and held talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi regarding the return of 150 Mi-17 engines that had been sold to the country earlier.

Following the negotiations, it was expected that the engines would be returned to Russia in December 2023.

From Pakistan, Russia requested four engines from sold Mi-35M helicopters, from Belarus – six engines from Mi-26 helicopters, and from Brazil – 12 engines from decommissioned Mi-35M helicopters.

The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that they had rejected the deal.

The number of Mi-8 helicopters in the Russian Aerospace Forces is estimated to be around 300 units.

However, the actual fleet is much larger. These helicopters are also used by other security and state agencies, including the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB), the FSB Border Service, the National Guard, and several federal ministries.