WASHINGTON — The deal looked sketchy from the start: To outfit Afghanistan’s security forces with new helicopters, the Pentagon bypassed U.S. companies and turned to Moscow for dozens of Russian Mi-17 rotorcraft at a cost of more than $1 billion.
Senior Pentagon officials assured skeptical members of Congress that the Department of Defense had made the right call. They cited a top-secret 2010 study they said named the Mi-17 as the superior choice.
It turns out the study told a very different story, according to unclassified excerpts obtained by The Associated Press.
The U.S. Army’s workhorse Chinook, built by Boeing, was found to be “the most cost-effective single platform type fleet for the Afghan Air Force over a 20-year (period),” according to the excerpts.
Lawmakers who were following the copter deal were stunned. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate’s No. 2 GOP leader and one of the most vocal critics of the contract, said the Defense Department “repeatedly and disingenuously” used the study to prove the necessity of buying Mi-17s.
“So why are we buying Russian helicopters when there are American manufacturers that can meet that very same requirement?” Cornyn asked.
More than two years since the Mi-17 contract was signed, a veil of secrecy obscures the pact despite its high-dollar value, the potential for fraud and waste, and accusations the Pentagon muffled information.
The Pentagon denies it misled Congress.
A senior department official said the study was focused on long-term requirements and not the immediate needs of the Afghan military, which were best met by the Mi-17. Also, U.S. commanders in Afghanistan wanted the Mi-17 because it is durable and easy-to-operate and the Afghan forces had experience flying it, according to the official.
Overall, 63 Mi-17s are being acquired through the 2011 contract. It was awarded without competition to Russia’s arms export agency, Rosoboronexport, even though the Pentagon condemned the agency after its weapons were used by Syria.
No Pentagon official was made available to speak on the record for this story.
