Why wouldn’t they purchase the helicopters from the US???
For the same reason WE bought Russian helicopters for the Afghan Air Force. We bought and trained them on a fleet of MI-17s. Way cheaper and easier to keep maintained than US products who assume much higher levels of maintenance as normal.
And it’s a good solid machine.
“”Why wouldn’t they purchase the helicopters from the US???””
Because Mexico would be ‘paying for The Wall’?