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The Obama administration's recent lifting of sanctions against Russia's state arms exporter could boost orders for Russian aircraft from a somewhat-unexpected customer: the U.S. military. As part of its effort to equip the militaries of Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, the Pentagon has in recent years been snapping up helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft from the arsenals of its former Cold War rivals, including Russia. The goal is to help the three countries build air forces that are rugged, affordable and easy to operate. Washington sanctioned Rosoboronexport, Russia's state arms dealer, in 2006 for its dealings with Iran, and lifted those restrictions...

MOSCOW, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Russian arms export corporation Rosoboronexport signed a contract with the U.S. Army Forces Command on supplying 21 Mi-17V5 multipurpose helicopters to Afghanistan, a spokesman for the Russian Federal Service of Military-Technical Cooperation said on Friday. The United States and Russia have been in talks for more than a year on the deal to provide the much-needed vehicles for the NATO mission in Afghanistan, RIA Novosti reported. The cost of one helicopter has been agreed earlier at 17.5 million U.S. dollars. The first helicopters will be sent to Afghanistan in October 2011, said the spokesman. Besides,...

Watch the historic moment the sea drone takes down an aerial target. DRAMATIC footage shows the moment Ukraine claimed the historic downing of a Russian M-8 military helicopter off the coast of occupied Crimea by a missile-firing sea drone. Kyiv's military intelligence announced the strike in the Black Sea with a Magura V5 and included a clip of the historic moment. In the black-and-white footage taken from the sea drone, bursts of water can be seen around the drone launching into the air as Vladimir Putin's chopper attacked. Viewers can quickly spot the Russian aircraft in the top right-hand corner...

TWO Russian fighter jets and two helicopters have been downed close to the Ukraine border in suspected missile strikes. An Su-34 jet and a Mi-8 chopper were seen coming down near the Russian town of Klintsky within two hours of each other. The town lies in the south-eastern region of Bryansk, about 25 miles from the Ukrainian border. Another Mi-8 helicopter along with a Su-35 single seater fighter also came down, elsewhere in the Bryansk region. Horror footage showed one of the the Mi-8 aircraft plummeting from the skies engulfed in flames as it slammed into the ground. Then just...

After calling out crew members for violating COVID safety protocols, Cruise became a hero to others who 'tried to persuade people flouting coronavirus precautions to protect themselves and others'A new report raises questions about Tom Cruise’s presentation of himself as the safety-conscious star of “Mission: Impossible 7,” who was so vehement about protecting the production from COVID-19 that he notoriously yelled expletives at crew members who purportedly violated COVID safety protocols. Indeed, the investigative report by the Hollywood Reporter said it is believed that Cruise didn’t get the COVID-19 vaccine, at least as of June 2021. That means he...

Tom Cruise may have pulled of his most ambitious feat yet as he was seen hanging upside down from the wing of a World War II biplane while filming scenes his upcoming Mission Impossible 8 movie The actor, 59, was seen filming the death-defying stunt at Duxford Airfield in Cambridge this week, with the 1941 Boeing B75N1 Stearman biplane performing a stomach-churching loop-the-loop and nose-dive with the actor onboard As the plane soared across the Cambridgeshire countryside, Tom - who was attached to the plane by a harness - perilously dangled himself upside down from the wing The plane then...

A Russian military helicopter has been shot down by rebels in Syria killing all five people on board, it has been revealed. The aircraft, carrying three crew and two officers, crashed down in the Idlib province in north western Syria on its way home to a Russian airbase. Gruesome pictures have since emerged showing what is believed to be the body of a Russian pilot being dragged through the dirt and loaded on to a truck. It comes as mystery surrounded the discovery in the wreckage of an identification card showing a picture of a blonde woman. The image was...

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, on August 12, 2014. It was his first official visit to the Russian Federation as President. And Vladimir Putin was the first leader to invite him for a visit outside the Arab world since his swearing-in as head of state. The agenda included introduction to a selection of Russian military hardware for sale. (1) The two leaders agreed to expand cooperation in the field of arms exports to Egypt in addition to studying the establishment of a logistics center Masri on the Black...

GROZNY. April 27 (Interfax-AVN) - According to preliminary information, 17 people were killed in a crash of an Mi-8 helicopter carrying a landing party in southern Chechnya, a source in the headquarters of the joint group of forces in the North Caucasus told Interfax-AVN on Friday. "Three crewmembers and 14 soldiers died. According to preliminary information, the helicopter was hit from the ground," the source said. A special operation to eliminate an illegal armed group has been under way to the south from the Shatoi town. Three Mi-8 helicopters with landing parties were sent to the district. One of...

It seems that there is absolutely nothing in common between the aggression of the United States and Great Britain in Iraq and the Russian motor enterprise Perm Motors. However, if you pay attention to the fact that the Iraqi army has Mi-8 choppers equipped with TB-2-117 engines that were produced at Perm Motors, a connection becomes clear. The company manufactures gas turbine plants for the Russian gas giant Gazprom, as well as D-30F6 engines for MiG-31 pursuit planes. If the Iraqi army had several regiments of MiG-31 jets, it is not ruled out that there would be absolutely no war....