MOSCOW. May 15 (Interfax-AVN) - Four Russian Mi-8 helicopters will be shipped to Sudan in a Ruslan jumbo jet. They will be used in the UN peacekeeping operation, Air Force Commander-in-Chief Army General Vladimir Mikhailov said on Monday.
"The An-124 Ruslan will take off in the early hours of Tuesday, May 16. It will be carrying 30 servicemen," he said.
The helicopters will be delivered to the Entebbe airfield, south of Sudan, and they will be assembled by engineers and technicians of the Russian peacekeeping force. They will be tested and fly to base at the Juba airport.
About 120 servicemen and four Mi-8MT helicopters will make up Russia's force in Sudan. Merited Pilot and Senior Inspector Colonel Mikhail Petrovichev is the group's commander.
The servicemen and helicopters will be shipped to Sudan by the end of May, which will need another nine flights of Il-76s.
Thirty servicemen and over 150 tonnes of cargo are already in Sudan, Mikhailov said.