Russia & CIS
THE SOLE Ka-226.50 in Viys’kovo-Mors’ki Syly (VMS, Ukrainian Navy) service, ‘41 Yellow’ (c/n 03-02), participated in a simulated rescue mission at Mykolaiv-Kul’bakino, Ukraine, on July 9, during Exercise Sea Breeze 2019. The helicopter had only entered service last December and is operated by the 10 mors’ka aviatsiyna brihada (mabr, naval aviation brigade) at Mykolaiv (see Ukrainian Navy presents Ka-226, March, p28).
This helicopter was ordered by the then Ministry of Emergencies of Ukraine, under a contract signed in September 2007, and was built in 2008. It was formally accepted in September the same year at the Kumertau Aviation Plant in Russia.
In January 2009, it was initially transferred to Vilnius, Latvia, but Gelaksis – the intermediary company from which it had been purchased – failed to pay for customs procedures before going bankrupt and leaving the Ka-226 stuck in Latvia.
Around 2013, it was moved to the Lviv State Aircraft Repair Plant in Ukraine, where it continued to languish in storage. Never delivered to the original customer, it was eventually handed over to the Ukrainian Navy to supplement its fleet, despite protests from the State Emergency Service which felt it had…
