Russia-Iran Agreement on Helicopter Maintenance Center

Russian Helicopters and its Iranian partners signed an agreement for the technical evaluation of the IHSRC plant for developing after-sales service for Mi-8/17 helicopters.

Russian Helicopters has held talks with Iran Helicopter Support and Renewal Company (IHSRC) as part of the Trade and Industry Dialogue: Russia-Iran 2015 exhibition, Rostec said in a statement Tuesday.

“Today we signed an agreement with our Iranian partners to carry out a technical evaluation of the IHSRC plant, which is to carry out repairs to commercial Mi-8/17 helicopters operated in Iran,” Russian Helicopters' CEO Alexander Mikheev said. “We will send 35 specialists to evaluate the technological repair process for Mi helicopters, after which we will develop a concrete plan to retool the repair centre.”

The development of after-sales service provision for Russian-made helicopters will be carried out under a ‘Roadmap for the retooling of the IHSRC plant and its authorisation as a repair and maintenance centre for commercial Mi-8/17 helicopters’ that has been agreed and signed.

The IHSRC plant’s production capacity makes it one of the largest centres for helicopter maintenance, repair and modernisation in the Middle East. Russian Helicopters will upgrade the plant’s production lines, deliver components and technical documentation for repair work, and also train Iranian specialists and follow the procedures required for the Iranian plant’s authorisation and certification. IHSRC also has a service centre on the island of Kish, which can be expanded to repair slight damage and provide ongoing repairs, fix malfunctions and refine performance according to Mi-8/17 Service Bulletins.