Please tell me this isn't true. Americans buying Russian Helicopters to give away to the country that attacked the World Trade Center, White House and Pentagon.
If your over forty, ask yourself "what would Ronald Reagan Say about buying communist helicopters for the Taliban".
If you ever needed proof this is not a war this should qualify. The first objective in war is total destruction of the opponent. As is the second and third.
The claims by our Pentagon is the Russian chopper is better suited for the Afghan climate and the pilots prefer the right side divers seat over the American version.
The Blackhawk and Apache choppers perform best in flower laden meadows with babbling brooks, therefore inferior.
I'm speechless
By Craig Whitlock
updated 4:29 a.m. ET, Sat., June 19, 2010
WASHINGTON - The U.S. government is snapping up Russian-made helicopters to form the core of Afghanistan's fledgling air force, a strategy that is drawing flak from members of Congress who want to force the Afghans to fly American choppers instead.
In a turnabout from the Cold War, when the CIA gave Stinger missiles to Afghan rebels to shoot down Soviet helicopters, the Pentagon has spent $648 million to buy or refurbish 31 Russian Mi-17 transport helicopters for the Afghan National Army Air Corps. The Defense Department is seeking to buy 10 more of the Mi-17s next year, and had planned to buy dozens more over the next decade.
The spectacle of using U.S. taxpayer dollars to buy Russian military
products is proving a difficult sell in Congress. Some legislators say that the Pentagon never considered alternatives to the Mi-17, an aircraft it purchased for use in Iraq and Pakistan, and that a lack of competition has enabled Russian defense contractors to gouge on prices.
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