By Shahzad Masood Roomi
Mi-17 helicopters have been backbone of Pakistan Army Aviation (PAA) since many years now. These machines have played a remarkable role in ongoing counter insurgency and counter terrorism operations. During natural calamities like floods and earthquakes these are priority option of Pakistan Army for search and rescue operations.
But due to this workload of every kind, the fleet of PAA's Mi-17s is rusting fast and the accidents are on the rise. On 6th August, PAA suffered second major accident involving Mi-17 killing all 12 on board including pilots and paramedical team of Pakistan Army near Mansehra, in KPK province.
Earlier, on 8th May 2015, 8 people were killed in an Mi-17 crash in Naltar in District Gilgit, including the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines, as well as the spouses of the Indonesian and Malaysian ambassadors to Pakistan.
Apart from these two incidents, scores of troops have lost their lives.
On 3rd July 2006, in a terrible accident of Mi-17 crash, 26 Pakistan Army soldiers were killed.
On 11th July 2012, A Pakistan Army Mi-17 crashed in Sarkdu in which left 5 dead and 3 injured. Major Shoaib was injured in the incident and lost his life next day due to heavy burns on his body.
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| Maj Shoaib Shaheed - Sakrdu 2012 |
It is evident that Pakistani Mi-17 have become older and rusty due to excessive operations during the last 10 years and Pakistan Army needs the replacement or up-gradation of Mi-17s. This is not going to be an easy undertaking as right now Pakistan Army is using approx. 100 of these Russian machines. Availability of Russian spare parts has remained a big issue as well due to heavy political clout of New Delhi in Moscow till recent past.
The latest crash incident of Mi-17 in Mansehra has triggered a political debate in the country on Pak-US/West strategic partnership in war on terror in which Pakistan has played a key role being the front-line ally since 9/11.
Western alliance failed to provide Pakistan Army with the required hardware and technologies in this war due to which strong suspicions about the future of this partnership are being raised in Islamabad. It has been noticed within the strategic circles in the country that the US never supplied Pakistan with key components like attack helicopters and drones in this war due to which Pakistan Army had to suffer fatalities at a very high rate.
According to media reports, the US never considered Pakistan's demand for sophisticated technology for its COIN operations. Sources has confirmed that Pakistan had been requesting the US for new or leased helicopters and transfer of drone technology since the onset of WoT, unfortunately, the US despite paying Pakistan from Collision Support Fund, never agreed to provide technologies required for effective operations against terrorists in FATA.
Pakistan was only supplied with second hand Cobra and few Mi-17s which were maintained in airworthy conditions by tireless efforts of Pakistani technicians.
But Pakistan is not the only country where Mi-17 have met with accidents. The list of crash incident is quite long and include all major operator of this machine.
Latest Developments:
Pakistan Army has been looking for suitable attack and utility helicopter of Western origin. Pakistani delegations visited Turkey for number of times in this respect. Finally, Pakistan signed deal with Russian Federation directly. Fluid regional geopolitics played a key role in change of heart in Moscow; a key Indian ally. Ice began to break from President Musharraf's visit to Russia in 2005. After years of military diplomacy, despite attempts by India to prevent Russia from supplying Pakistan with latest military hardware, Pakistan Army leadership was able to convenience Moscow to sign a deal of supplying high tech Russian hardware directly to Islamabad. Pakistan signed a deal with Russia to procure Mi-35 Gunship helicopter, although Pakistan still seeking a replacement for Mi-17s.
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| Mi-35 Gunship Helicopter |
But now Pakistan is in position to acquire spare parts or new units to replace those destroyed in accidents. Chinese have made big stride in military hardware and China is producing Z-18 and Z-8 helicopters... But so far, Pakistan is only interested in Z-10 Gunships. 3 Z-10s are being evaluated by PAA.
In the long run, Pakistan will be best served to cooperate with China on a joint venture to produce a reliable utility helicopter in medium weight category. For short to medium term, Pakistan must enhance strategic cooperation with Russia to get latest version of Mi-17 and local maintenance facility. Pakistan Army is in desperate need of both utility and gunship helicopter and in given geopolitical scenario of the region and improvement in Pakistan's economy, Russian machines are feasible to acquire both politically and financially.
