Vientiane, July 12, 2018. During their business trip to Laos, the delegation from Russian Helicopters Holding Company (part of Rostec State Corporation) conducted negotiations with the executives of the Lao Ministry of Defense regarding further cooperation in after-sales support of the previously supplied helicopters.

During the negotiations, the Lao party expressed their interest in the timely restoration of the airworthiness of three Mi-17V-5 helicopters, the TBO of which expires in 2019. Moreover, the parties discussed the possibility of repairing Ka-32 helicopters, which are also in service with the Lao Air Force.

The official ceremony had taken place earlier at the air base in Vientiane dedicated to the transfer of four Mi-17 helicopters repaired by the mobile group of specialists of JSC “356 ARP” to the Lao Ministry of Defense. The event was attended by Lao Deputy of Minister of Defence, Phouvong Vongphom.

“The Asia-Pacific Region is a priority market for the Holding Company in the area of after-sales services. As of today, the APR uses over 500 helicopters produced in Russia and in the Soviet Union. We are ready to offer to all our partners, including our colleagues from Laos, the best solutions for repairing and upgrading their current fleet of helicopters,” noted Sergey Gusev, Director for After-Sales Services of Russian Helicopters.

Another priority area for cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region, he added, is the consistent work aimed at explaining the consequences of performing repair activities at non-certified repair bases of third countries, since many helicopter operators only go by price parameters, when concluding contracts for the supply of spare parts and components, ignoring international quality standards.

To prevent the use of counterfeited products, the Holding Company is working on introducing identification markings on the aviation inventory at the manufacturing stage. The products will be automatically registered in the system for tracking the movement of the components and spare parts along the product supply networks and in operation.

The Lao Air Fleet comprises over 20 civil and military helicopters produced by the Holding Company’s enterprises. In addition to Mi-8/17, the country operates medium utility Ka-32T helicopters.