Zimbabwe air med

[PANews]

Yesterday, May 18, amid a high profile launch event Zimbabwe took delivery of eighteen Ansat helicopters purchased from the Russian Federation. The event at the Robert Mugabe International Airport was attended by President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the chief executive of the Russian State Corporation "Rostec".

There were certainly examples flying on the day but, notwithstanding the medium term intent to grow this fleet to 50 by late next year, does anyone know if there are two or three dozen local helicopter pilots in the region that could operate so many so soon. The news stories suggest that the Ansats delivered are the westernised version powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW-207K engines. In view of sanctions It is unlikely.

Anybody with an opinion?

The airframes featured at the launch event appeared to comprise around twelve multi-coloured HEMS configured craft registered in the Z-W** series [Z-WUF, WUI, WUM, WUV, WUY and WUZ noted] and six airframes finished in blue and white marked police. The aircrafts will be deploying for policing, wild life protection duties and disaster management. They are seen as tools with which Zimbabwe might assist neighbours such as "Malawi" and "Mozambique" that are often struck by natural disasters.

[Self loading bear]

DefenseWeb (https://www.defenceweb.co.za/aerospace/aerospace-aerospace/zimbabwe-gets-new-vip-jet-russian-helicopters/)

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Given the evident corruption in Russia, would you expect these aircraft to be reliable and well constructed?

Or is this just another way of transferring money out of Russia to avoid sanctions?

[OvertHawk]

Given the evident corruption in Russia, would you expect these aircraft to be reliable and well constructed?

Or is this just another way of transferring money out of Russia to avoid sanctions?

the suggestion that this might be a way of getting assets out of Russia or hard currency in falls over, in my opinion due to the following:

Zimbabwe is sanctioned and does not have the hard currency to pay therefore this is almost certainly some kind of hardware for influence or some other quid pro quo (raw minerals?) rather than hard currency.

As regards the aircraft being assets... Right now they are Russian machines with a small comparative value because anyone that might want to buy them will be hugely wary about their actual worth and the support they might get from the OEM going forward (otherwise they would be selling them to someone else rather than giving them away). Secondly - after they have been in Zimbabwe for a few months they will be of even less value as they will not have been maintained or supported properly.

OH

[212man]

the suggestion that this might be a way of getting assets out of Russia or hard currency in falls over, in my opinion due to the following:

Zimbabwe is sanctioned and does not have the hard currency to pay therefore this is almost certainly some kind of hardware for influence or some other quid pro quo (raw minerals?) rather than hard currency.

As regards the aircraft being assets... Right now they are Russian machines with a small comparative value because anyone that might want to buy them will be hugely wary about their actual worth and the support they might get from the OEM going forward (otherwise they would be selling them to someone else rather than giving them away). Secondly - after they have been in Zimbabwe for a few months they will be of even less value as they will not have been maintained or supported properly.

OH
All of the above!

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You are probably right Overthawk - more likely to be gold than currency but the principle is the same.

We see the Wagner Group extracting large quantities of gold from Sudan so very much in the Russian playbook.

[Cyclic Hotline]

What a sham! It will be interesting to see how long until the first loss occurs: the only contribution to safety being the high likelihood that none of them will ever be operable and there is nothing safer than a non-flying helicopter sitting on the ramp. https://static.zawya.com/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/ODdkYTVjNzEtNjEyNy00/1/img_2663-jpg.webp?f=3%3A2&q=0.75&w=3840
Rostec presents its offshore Mi-171A3 abroad for the first time. Image Courtesy: Rostec.
Thulani Mpofu, The Zimbabwean
May 25, 2023
ZIMBABWE (https://www.zawya.com/relatedkeywords/ZIMBABWE)RUSSIA (https://www.zawya.com/relatedkeywords/RUSSIA)AVIATION (https://www.zawya.com/primarykeyword/AVIATION)
The Kazan Ansat helicopters, delivered by the Russian State Corporation (ROSTEC), will be used for air policing and rescue missions and as air ambulances. Fourteen more will have been delivered by the end of 2025.

Speaking after receiving the aircraft on Thursday (May 18), President Emmerson Mnangagwa said some of the aircraft will be used to serve tourism centres such as the world-renowned wildlife park Mana Pools as well as Victoria Falls.

“Zimbabwe is under sanctions; we are constrained unlike our neighbours and the rest of the world to acquire the tools we need to mitigate the impact of cyclones and disasters in our region,” he said, as quoted by state-owned The Herald on Friday (May 19).

Russian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Nikolai Krasilnikov thanked his host for supporting his country amid Moscow’s war with Ukraine.

“It makes us proud that in the current geopolitical situation Russia and Zimbabwe, as the all-weather friends, enhance their interaction despite threats of sanctions and challenges of the turbulent times we live through,” he said.

However, critics have questioned the Zimbabwe government’s priorities. Mso Ndlovu, spokesperson of an opposition party, Zimbabwe African People’s Union, told the independent daily NewsDay that the purchase must be investigated.

“In a normal country, with a normal economy, purchasing such choppers would be a cause for celebration, but Zimbabwe is far from being a normal country,” Ndlovu is quoted on Monday (May 22) as saying.

“The country itself is desperate for airlifting to seek medical attention as everything has stopped working. Our hospitals have no medication, including basic painkillers like paracetamol. Our country has no single functioning cancer machine. Amid all this, the government procures helicopters to airlift patients and other emergencies only to fly them to empty hospitals.”

Zimbabwe is close to Russia and has not spoken out against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Private-public partnership means the money used belongs to the public and there should be accountability,” the daily cited a critic who declined to be named as saying.

“It also means there are private companies involved, but why has the government only revealed State actors? Was this deal put to tender?”

The sale could just be Russia’s way of dumping craft it will not be able to easily service due to US sanctions, Ian Cox, an expert in aviation and defence matters has suggested.

The Kazan Ansat helicopters have engines from Pratt & Whitney, a Canadian entity whose holding company is US-owned Raytheon Technologies.

“Russia dumped these on Zimbabwe quickly because they knew they would not be able to get engine support for them anymore,” Cox wrote on Twitter.

“Do they even have a viable replacement engine for this type? I would put money on Zimbabwe not being able to get engine support either.

“Pratt & Whitney service network in Africa is not likely to touch a Russian airframe with a 10-foot pole even if their own engine is in it.

“Russia will not have any Pratt & Whitney spares to support them either. They are saving what they have. Honestly, this is probably the most bizarre helicopter purchase by an African nation (or any) I have seen in my lifetime.”

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