Mil Mi-17 & Mi-171 in China
- Thread starter Deino
- Start date
Both China and India buy from Russia, but India buys alot more by far, I definitely would see this as a political move to incentivise Russia into not selling to India in an event of a war, since China could buy them as well.
Well, Russia has shown plenty of times in the past that it wants to keep both India in China in friendly relations.
Russia knows any conflict between India and China would be to the US benefit and their own detriment.
So they sell weapons to both countries. Both countries also have, I think, limited leverage to force Russia not to sell to either part. China keeps increasing its own native production, and India keeps trying to buy from US aligned countries. The Apache helicopter and Rafale fighter purchases being examples. It is against Russian interests to stop selling to either country.
I agree that this purchase is just for expediency's sake. The Russians have helicopter production capacity they aren't using and the Chinese have such vast requirements for the Z-20 for both the Army and Navy they simply can't fulfill all of them.
Russia knows any conflict between India and China would be to the US benefit and their own detriment.
So they sell weapons to both countries. Both countries also have, I think, limited leverage to force Russia not to sell to either part. China keeps increasing its own native production, and India keeps trying to buy from US aligned countries. The Apache helicopter and Rafale fighter purchases being examples. It is against Russian interests to stop selling to either country.
I agree that this purchase is just for expediency's sake. The Russians have helicopter production capacity they aren't using and the Chinese have such vast requirements for the Z-20 for both the Army and Navy they simply can't fulfill all of them.
According to @huitong 's CMA-Blog, "The latest video (January 2021) indicated that a few Mi-171Es started to wear a new desert camouflage for the Gobi desert in Northwest China (S/N 997xx)" like this one with the serial number LH99728.
However I'm confused since the new PLA AA serials are 6-digit numbers and LH997xx is rather unusual.
(Image courtesy of CMDSY via Huitong's CMA-Blog)
However I'm confused since the new PLA AA serials are 6-digit numbers and LH997xx is rather unusual.
(Image courtesy of CMDSY via Huitong's CMA-Blog)
Three configurations of Mi-171s from the same brigade.
1) Front one: a cooling air inlet on the lower right side plus two external tanks:
2) Right one: a cooling air inlet on the upper right side without external tanks.
3) Left one: a cooling air inlet on the lower right side without external tanks.
1) Front one: a cooling air inlet on the lower right side plus two external tanks:
2) Right one: a cooling air inlet on the upper right side without external tanks.
3) Left one: a cooling air inlet on the lower right side without external tanks.
According to @huitong 's CMA-Blog, "The latest video (January 2021) indicated that a few Mi-171Es started to wear a new desert camouflage for the Gobi desert in Northwest China (S/N 997xx)" like this one with the serial number LH99728.
However I'm confused since the new PLA AA serials are 6-digit numbers and LH997xx is rather unusual.
(Image courtesy of CMDSY via Huitong's CMA-Blog)
View attachment 68121
I know this is a whole month later, but I just saw this now.
You mentioned the serial number is unusual, I noticed another small detail, not sure if there is any meaning to it.
The "Mi-171E" stenciled in the panel is in Russian/Cyrillic. (Ми-171Е)
If this is a new paintjob, it means they actually painted the Russian back on?
Seems like an unusual thing to do. If we take Il-76MD as an example. Russian ones naturally have “ИЛ-76МД”. PLAAF models don’t have the model marking from pictures I’ve seen. Most other export models (India, Iran, etc.) have “IL-76MD”.
Doesn't answer your question whatsoever, but maybe it means something to you.