The Pakistan Army Aviation Corps (PAAC) has begun receiving the Mi-35M attack helicopters ordered from Russia in 2015, according to a report by the Quawa Defense News & Analysis Group on April 10.
The report cites a video of a Mi-35M helicopter in PAAC colors flying in Pakistan and import-export logs that show the delivery of helicopter-related equipment, including ammunition, from Russian state-owned defense exporter Rosoboronexport to the Pakistan Army in early April as evidence.
Russia officially handed over four Mi-35M helicopters to PAAC already in August 2017 (See: “Pakistan Receives 4 Advanced Attack Helicopters From Russia”). “The contract was signed, we received all four cars [Mi-35Ms] and now we get new equipment,” Brigadier General Waheed Mumtaz of Pakistan’s Defense Export Promotion Organization said in Moscow at the time. However, this delivery likely took place in Russia and the actual transfer of the helicopter gunships took place at an unknown later date.
Islamabad and Moscow concluded the $153 million helicopter deal during then-Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif’s visit to Russia in June 2016. A preliminary contract was signed at the Pakistan Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi in August 2015.
The Mi-35M is ideally suited to operate in Pakistan’s difficult terrain.
The Mi-35M attack helicopter, the export version of the Mi-24 gunship, was developed by the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and has been produced in Russia since 2005. Next to serving in the Russian military, the aircraft has been exported to Azerbaijan, Brazil, Iraq, and Venezuela.
The company website of Russian Helicopters notes that the Mi-35 is particularly suited for mountainous terrain and can be deployed “round the clock” in adverse weather conditions.
Published in Daily Times, April 16th 2018.
