Ukraine’s leading defense group UkrOboronProm has announced a multi-year plan to produce a new medium utility helicopter at the Odesa Aircraft Plant.
On Friday, the director-general of the Ukraine-based defense company Yuri Gusev said that at the “Odessa Aviation Plant”, which is part of the UkrOboronProm, it is planned to launch licensed production of Bell UH-1 Iroquois class helicopters.
He said that the organization of production is at the final stage today. The first aircraft should be manufactured by the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence, that is, in the summer of 2021. The project is financed from investment funds.
Currently, there are three main helicopter models in this class. Among them are Bell 212, Bell 412 and UH-1Y twin-engine, medium-sized utility helicopters.
This class of helicopters has a metal fuselage of semi-monocoque construction with tubular landing skids and two or four rotor blades on the main rotor.
The helicopters are in service with civil and military operators from various countries including Brazil, U.S., UK, Canada, Colombia, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain and Turkey. It can be configured for a range of operations including casualty evacuation, troop transportation or passenger carriage, cargo carriage, training and rescue missions.
