ZARYA (Moscow region). Oct 23 (Interfax-AVN) - The Ansat helicopter will become the main training helicopter in service with the army aviation in the near future, head of the Russian Air Force Army Aviation Directorate Major General Viktor Ivanov said.
"The new Ansat helicopter, manufactured by the Kazan Helicopter Plant, will replace the current Mi-2U helicopter and become the main training helicopter in the inventory of the army aviation in two to three years," Ivanov said on Tuesday.
The Ansat is a modern light aircraft, fitted with every instrument necessary for basic training at the Syzran Advanced Military Flight School, which trains army aviation pilots, he emphasized.
"The helicopter features a great potential," he said.
The Mi-2U training helicopter has already become obsolete, Ivanov noted.
"The helicopter was produced in Poland in the 1970s, and we are now experiencing great problems with spare parts," he said.
An average flying time, logged by graduates of the Syzran Advanced Military Flight School, amounts to over about 108 hours, Ivanov stressed. The flight school graduates 200 pilots a year, he said. "This year the school drafted 250 men," he noted.