OREANDA-NEWS. The Russian Helicopters holding company has presented the unique capabilities of Russian rotary-wing aircraft to support international humanitarian missions at the VI Global Humanitarian Aviation Conference & Exhibition in Geneva, Switzerland, which focuses on aviation used for global humanitarian relief purposes.

Up to 200 Russian-made helicopters are currently involved in UN peacekeeping and humanitarian relief efforts around the world, the holding company's experts estimate. A majority of these are multi-role helicopters of the Mil Mi-8/Mi-17 family, as well as Mil Mi-26T helicopters with the greatest payload lifting capacity of any current helicopter in the world, and the irreplaceable Kamov Ka-32 special-purpose helicopters which are in a class of their own.

UN contracts usually require urgent deployment, which means that helicopters and support equipment must be supplied and maintained on location quickly and at a short notice. Russian helicopters are easy to transport: the breakdown for transit and reassembly on location requires a short amount of time. Russian Helicopters' products are well-suited for outdoor storage, not requiring hangars, and can be operated extensively far away from service depots.

Russian helicopters have to work in extremely challenging climates: in sand storms and torrential rain, at temperatures ranging from -50 to +50 ⁰С (-58 to 122 F). These extremely rugged machines can land on unprepared sites and operate in high-altitude mountain areas. They offer excellent performance, accomplishing their missions under any operating conditions, which makes them irreplaceable for humanitarian relief and peacekeeping efforts, especially in countries and regions like Afghanistan, East Timor, African nations (including South Sudan, Somalia and a number of others).

The Global Humanitarian Aviation Conference & Exhibition is an annual international event held to discuss a broad range of aviation safety issues affecting humanitarian flights, as well as new trends and areas in the aviation industry. Russian Helicopters professionals will meet there representatives of UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations, helicopter operators, EASA, FAA experts and officials with national aviation authorities of different countries, the company said in a statement.

Russian Helicopters places a great importance on providing service and support to helicopters operated on UN missions. Aviation professionals working with the holding company and PANH Airline made a presentation at the International Conference on Aviation for Humanitarian Relief Missions on Russian Operators in Humanitarian Relief Missions: Challenges, Issues, Experience Gained. It contains information about the excellent flight and operational performance of Russian helicopters, which meet the highest safety standards required by the most demanding customers. UN relief missions, some of which were associated with very challenging conditions, have repeatedly confirmed this feature of Russian rotary-wing machines.