The Pentagon’s inspector general said in a new report that the UH-60 that Afghanistan imported to replace the Mi-17 is not as capable as the Russian rotocraft.
Glenn Fine wrote in his latest quarterly assessment of U.S. expenditures in Afghanistan that the Black Hawk lacked the lift capability of the Mi-17 and “in general it takes almost two Black Hawks to carry the load of a single Mi-17.”
The American-made helicopter also lack the capacity to “accommodate some of the larger cargo items the Mi-17 can carry.”
Army Lieutenant Colonel Kone Faulkner, a Pentagon spokesman, defended the program to buy Black Hawks, saying that “n many cases the UH-60 is as, or more, capable than the Mi-17.”
He added that the UH-60’s maintenance costs are “significantly lower” than the Mi-17.