Ten Afghan airmen have graduated the Mi-17 helicopter engine and body maintenance course at the Afghan air force base in Kabul, becoming the first AAF personnel to complete this training. “The Mi-17 is the centerpiece of the Afghan air force, and the AAF is going to have the Mi-17 for the next 25 years,” said Lt. Col. Joseph Giuliani, a senior US Air Force air advisor in Kabul, who spoke at the Jan. 1 graduation ceremony, in highlighting the importance of this milestone for the fledgling air arm. Mongolian air force personnel, who joined NATO’s training mission last October, taught the two-month course—in Russian—to the Afghans. It included classroom-based familiarization, followed by practical, hands-on application. “I am proud to be a professional now,” said Lt. Nabiullah Ahmadi, one of the graduates. (Kabul report by MC2C Vladimir Potapenko)
While the Pentagon is halfway through its review of the Air Force’s new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program in the wake of “critical” cost and schedule overruns, the service has declared a similar issue for the helicopters meant to provide security and transport across those ICBM fields. The Air Force recently…