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2025-06-22 Science & Technology

Secretive Russian-Made Mi-17 Helicopter Makes Unusual Appearance In Tucson

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Posted by Skidmark 2025-06-22 00:07|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [269 views ] Top

#1 Little known fact, the US owns more MI-17 aircraft than Russia.

Posted by 49 Pan 2025-06-22 01:51|| 2025-06-22 01:51|| Front Page Top

#2 Not surprising as the Mi-17 is export version of the MI-8M helicopter which is used by the Russian military.

Posted by Seeking Cure For Ignorance 2025-06-22 05:00|| 2025-06-22 05:00|| Front Page Top

#3 Clicked too soon, I should mention that we bought a lot of the Mi-17 for use in Afghanistan.

Posted by Seeking Cure For Ignorance 2025-06-22 05:03|| 2025-06-22 05:03|| Front Page Top

#4 Marana Arizona - Pinal Air Park. Formerly owned by Air America and sold to Evergreen International Airlines during the Carter Administration. Previously a solid "company" base where Tibetan guerillas were trained. That place has seen "many" exercises of various types across the years.

Posted by Clem+Elmish4239 2025-06-22 05:58|| 2025-06-22 05:58|| Front Page Top

#5 @#3 - the outside looks the same. The inside - not so much. Ask me how I know!

Posted by Bangkok Billy 2025-06-22 06:21|| 2025-06-22 06:21|| Front Page Top

#6 ^Ok, how do you know?

Posted by Super Hose 2025-06-22 07:22|| 2025-06-22 07:22|| Front Page Top

#7 I flew in a few of them in the early days (2001-2003). We used them to move the Ambassador around on occasion mostly between Kabul n Bagram. The avionics were state of the art for the time. Plus the birds I saw had an internal refueling capability. A crew chief told me it was the easiest engine to work on. Engine design was based on a farm tractor. Soviets wanted a simple design that that even a farmer could service/repair.

Posted by Bangkok Billy 2025-06-22 16:11|| 2025-06-22 16:11|| Front Page Top

#8 Seems to be quite a few flying out of the former NAS Green Cove Springs from what is now known as the Reynolds Airpark

Posted by TZSenator 2025-06-22 16:43|| 2025-06-22 16:43|| Front Page Top

#9 ^ 7 Thank you. That makes sense.

Posted by Super Hose 2025-06-22 18:31|| 2025-06-22 18:31|| Front Page Top

#10 That would be the base of a company working with various 3 letter orgs...

Posted by Pliny Gravith8202 2025-06-22 20:19|| 2025-06-22 20:19|| Front Page Top

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