NUH director Karina Kasih told The Jakarta Post on Sunday that this was NUH’s first cooperation agreement with state-owned Russian Helicopter (RH).

“Our relationship with RH started from our interest in buying their Mi-171 helicopters,” Karina.

“We agreed to use the Mi-8AMT in firefighting activities to measure the aircraft’s performance.”

Karina explained that the Mi-8AMT was equivalent to the Mi-171, which has been certified by the Indonesian Transportation Ministry’s Civil Aviation Directorate General at the Transportation Ministry.

She said the cooperation started in July and would last until the fire season ended.

“The benefits from the cooperation are that we can evaluate their helicopters for safety, reliability and performance for firefighting jobs under the Indonesian climate,” Karina said.

“We can also have direct discussions with their crew on the helicopters’ operations.”

Karina added that that NUH planned to buy two Mi-171s in 2021 and another two in 2023.

Russian crew members work on an Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant (U-UAP)' Mi-8AMT medium helicopter at Syamsudin Noor International Airport in Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan. U-UAP, part of Russia's state-owned Russian Helicopters, is cooperating with Indonesian helicopter operator PT National Utility Helicopters in operating and evaluating two Mi-8AMTs for firefighting operations. (Courtesy of Russian Helicopters/-)

RH, a holding company for Russian helicoptermakers, is the world’s largest designer and manufacturer of helicopters, especially in the medium and heavy categories for both civilian and military missions.

The holding company manages a design bureau, the National Helicopter Center 'Mil and Kamov', which also makes its own helicopters. RH also oversees several companies making helicopters designed by Kamov and Mil, such as Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant (U-UAP), Rostvertol and Kazan Helicopters.

The test program is being conducted by U-UAP and is aimed at assessing all of the advantages of the helicopters’ real operation in conjunction with all available corporate support tools and implemented aftersales services of RH, the holding company announced in a statement on Oct. 28

“The pilot project is being implemented in Indonesia, where two Mi-8AMT helicopters are already involved in firefighting operations,” RH said in the statement. “Helicopters sent to Indonesia with the crew and technical staff of U-UAP were relocated to the island of Kalimantan almost immediately upon arrival to extinguish forest fires.”

RH also said that in the future, the rotorcraft would be on operational duty in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Meanwhile, U-UAP managing director Leonid Belykh said in the statement that a contract with NUH had become the pilot project of this program.

Belykh added that PT NUH had 50 years of experience in providing services for the Indonesian government and private companies.

“The main task under the contract is to carry out firefighting operations in the region, as well as provide consulting services regarding the formation of its own air fleet of Indonesian operators for annual firefighting operations,” Belykh.

RH also said that in its temporary use of the helicopters, NUH gets the opportunity to consult the Russian company's specialists 24 hours a day, seven days a week and have access to a replacement fund and a fund for additional equipment.

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RH added that one of the first Mi-171A2 helicopters manufactured by the company had been participating in a test operation program at UTair-VU airline since 2018, where it successfully fulfilled the tasks faced by the operator and demonstrated high flight performances.

"The experience of the joint work of the manufacturer and the customer was reflected in the U-UAP helicopter test operation program for Indonesia," the holding company said in the statement.

Mi-8AMT is a hot-and-high version of the versatile Russian helicopters with three crew members, consisting of two pilots and an engineer.

The helicopter is powered by two Klimov TV3-117VM turboshaft engines, the company said on its website. There is an option of using the more powerful Klimov VK-2500 engines.

The helicopter can carry 26 passengers or cargoes of 4,000 kilograms.

With a top speed of 250 kilometers per hour, the -8AMT has a range of 620 km. The range can be extended to some 1,000 km by using additional fuel tanks.

The  Mi-171 is an export variant of the Mi-8AMT.