"The nation that will insist upon drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking by cowards."
Much to my surprise, the Army even published an aircrew training manual for the Mi-17 as well, TC 3-04.35. (Of course, you need AKO credentials ro read it).
The DOD has received alot of flak from both the media, and congress because of this. Officials would rather have us ordering pricy UH-60s for our ANA counterparts, and the CAPTF. However, they are forgetting a couple of things. First, the Mi-17 was designed to fly in Afghanistan; it's not a bad aircraft (it's just very basic, and not as developed as other choopers). Second, as financial support for Afghanistan shrinks, they won't have the funds to continue purchasing advanced helicopters. The Mi-17 offers an economical solution. Thirdly, it makes sense for CAPTF to procure a couple of these for themselves if this is the platform that we want Afghan Security Forces to use.
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The DOD has received alot of flak from both the media, and congress because of this. Officials would rather have us ordering pricy UH-60s for our ANA counterparts, and the CAPTF. However, they are forgetting a couple of things. First, the Mi-17 was designed to fly in Afghanistan; it's not a bad aircraft (it's just very basic, and not as developed as other choopers). Second, as financial support for Afghanistan shrinks, they won't have the funds to continue purchasing advanced helicopters. The Mi-17 offers an economical solution. Thirdly, it makes sense for CAPTF to procure a couple of these for themselves if this is the platform that we want Afghan Security Forces to use.
The AF is running a Mi-17 AQC down at Hurlburt if I'm not mistaken.
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