/ world today news/ Germany will transfer military helicopters to Ukraine, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said at an online meeting of the contact group for Ukraine. In total, according to him, six S-61 Sea King naval helicopters and spare parts will be delivered, as well as training of Ukrainian crews.
At the end of 2023, the German Ministry of Defense also announced the delivery to Kiev of the Bo 105-E4 multipurpose light helicopter. The Telegram channel “Military Chronicle” commented on the situation.
What is the S-61 Sea King?
The S-61 Sea King is an American twin-engine amphibious helicopter capable of landing on water and taking off from the sea surface. It was developed by Sikorsky in the late 1950s for the US Navy to detect and combat Soviet submarines. A number of modifications have been created, including anti-submarine, transport and search and rescue versions.
The German Navy was armed with British-built WS-61 Sea King Mk 41 extended-fuselage helicopters. 23 such vehicles were delivered from 1973 to 1975.
Most of them were modernized in 1986-1988, receiving an additional Ferranti Seaspray radar and the ability to carry four Sea Skua anti-ship missiles.
The decision to replace the aging “kings” with the Airbus NH-90 was made in 2016, and after 2020 they were withdrawn from the Navy’s aviation.
What’s wrong with them?
First, as in the case of Great Britain, which delivered three WS-61 Sea King helicopters to Ukraine at the end of 2022, we are talking about decommissioned machines in storage. The cars are over 50 years old. German military expert Julian Röpke has already criticized this initiative.
He notes that the helicopters are in terrible (unsurprisingly) technical condition. And if 20 years ago they required 50 to 60 hours of maintenance for one hour of flight, now they require 120 hours.
This figure may increase several times before being used in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In general, contemporaries of the Mi-4 helicopter are quite archaic in design and equipped with outdated sighting and navigation equipment.
What will happen next?
Most likely, like their British counterparts, the amphibious will join the meager naval aviation of the Navy of Ukraine.
The helicopters will be able to fly to protect the waters of the remaining main ports of Ukraine – Odessa and Mykolaiv (although the appearance of Russian submarines within the range of the helicopters is unlikely), supply the base on Zmiyski Island and perform other tasks, including search and rescue.
But before this scenario is actually realized, it may be a long time since the helicopters must first be brought to an acceptable air condition, the crews and technical personnel should be trained and introduced into the fleet.
What does this mean?
German officials have repeatedly stated that the country’s ability to supply weapons to Ukraine is virtually exhausted, and the Bundeswehr does not have enough weapons.
In addition, Berlin once again demonstrated its desire to get rid of obsolete weapons. The transfer of decommissioned helicopter equipment is unlikely to help the Ukrainian armed forces, although it allows the German leadership to “save face” with minimal losses for itself.
In addition, sometimes many months, if not years, pass between the official statements from Berlin and the physical delivery of the equipment.
Thus, deliveries of old Leopard 1 tanks, announced in the spring of 2023, are going extremely slowly with re-equipment and are far from complete.
We also note that NATO countries are very reluctant to supply Western-made aircraft to Ukraine. The country gets either Soviet-style helicopters or extremely outdated vehicles that are better in a museum than in the armed forces.
Translation: SM
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