Taliban Restored Mi-17 and MD-530 Helicopters

The engineers of the technical unit of the Taliban Air Force have successfully repaired three helicopters, returning them to service.

This was reported by the Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan.

The repaired equipment includes two Mi-17 multi-role helicopters and one MD-530 light attack helicopter.

According to the Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan, all three machines have passed the necessary technical tests and have already made their first successful flights after the repair.

In September of this year, a Mi-17 helicopter crashed into a mountain in Afghanistan. Taliban reported that there had been officials on board.

The group received these helicopters after seizing power in the country in 2021 from the official Afghan Air Force.

Recently, it became known that the Taliban also managed to recover Indian Cheetal helicopters.

As part of establishing good neighborly relations with the new government in Kabul, India decided in 2014 to transfer three Cheetal helicopters manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to Afghanistan.

These aircraft are the modernized versions of the widely used HAL Cheetah helicopter, a licensed version of French Aerospatiale SA-315 Alouette II.

Unlike basic Cheetah, which is equipped with an old 550 hp Artouse IIIB engine, the Cheetal version is powered by a modern and economical Turbomeca TM333-2M2 engine with a capacity of 1100 hp.

Also in June, Taliban was able to partially restore UH-60A Black Hawk helicopters that were disabled by the US military.

According to Scramble Magazine, as of September 27th, 2021, Taliban captured at least 16 Black Hawk helicopters and their simulators in various technical conditions.