Philippines Terminates Helicopter Purchase from Russia

According to the Associated Press on July 27, the Philippine government terminated the agreement on the purchase of 16 Russian military transport helicopters due to the threat of US sanctions.

On July 26, the country’s former defense minister, Delfin Lorenzana, announced that he had canceled a $227 million deal to purchase Mi-17 helicopters in June. Before leaving his presidency on June 30, Rodrigo Duterte approved the decision.

It is noted that according to the agreement between the Philippines and the Russian Federation, which was signed in November last year, the first batch of multi-purpose helicopters was to be delivered to the Philippines by the Russian company “Sovtechnoexport” in about two years.

Meanwhile, Iran has signed an agreement with Russia that provides for the supply of parts and equipment for Russian aircraft, as well as the repair and maintenance of the aircraft. According to the Mehr agency on July 27, the representative of Iran’s civil aviation, Mirakbara Razavi, said this.

“A decision was made to sign a cooperation agreement with Russia in the framework of ensuring the possibility of exporting parts and equipment produced in Iran to Russia, as well as providing repair and maintenance services and technical support for Russian aircraft by Iranian repair centers,” said a representative of Iran’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) Mirakbar Razavi.

The agreement was signed during the visit to Iran of the Deputy Minister of Transport of Russia, who met with the head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Iran, Mohammad Mohammadi-Bakhsh.

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A memorandum of understanding was also signed. As part of which the number of passenger flights between the countries will be increased to 35 per week. 

In addition, on July 12, the US President’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN that the Iranian government is preparing “to provide Russia with up to several hundred drones” for use in Ukraine. However, representatives of Russia and Iran deny this.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the European Union closed the sky to Russian planes. And also banned the supply of spare parts for them, maintenance, support and insurance and obliged the leasing companies to return the planes leased to Russian carriers.

At the beginning of March, the largest American manufacturer of aviation equipment, Boeing, stopped servicing and supporting Russian airlines and supplying them with spare parts. The European manufacturer Airbus took the same measures.

Also, at the end of May, Bloomberg reported that spare parts stocks in airlines from Russia would be enough for three months.