Russian Helicopters Holding Company, part of Rostec State Corporation, is establishing an MRO centre for Mi-8/17 helicopters at the Helwan Factory for Developed Industries (HFDI) in Helwan, Egypt. The OEM expects to approve the MRO centre in 2019.

Initially, the MRO facility will carry out maintenance and overhaul of Mi-8T and Mi-17-1V helicopters operated by the Egyptian Air Force. Future plans include mastering of a Mi-17V-5 type.

Since 2015, Russian Helicopters has supplied HFDI with the necessary tooling and trained its staff at the Aviation Training Center of Novosibirsk Aircraft Repair Plant. Based on the audit results of the MRO centre, Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant has issued a statement on the centre's readiness to perform helicopter overhaul.

“One of the key objectives of JSC Russian Helicopters is to organise a system of after-sales support to provide first class service throughout the complete life cycle of Russian-made rotorcraft," explains deputy director general for after-sales support at JSC Russian Helicopters Igor Chechikov. "The company intends to continue expanding its global network of authorised service centres. Over the past three years, in cooperation with our partners from HFDI we have performed a tremendous job establishing the MRO centre for Russian-made rotorcraft at the factory's facilities. The Egyptian side is already in the process of performing a pilot Mi-8T and Mi-17-1V overhaul upon the results of which we plan to proceed with certification of the centre."

Rostec's director for international cooperation and regional policy Viktor Kladov adds: "Egypt is a long-standing and strategically important partner for Rostec. We cooperate in a wide range of areas. At the same time, the helicopter industry and after-sales service of equipment are one of the key areas of our cooperation.

“Certification of the helicopter service centre in Egypt will open up new opportunities for expanding our cooperation with local partners."