New Mi-17V-5 Hips for Serbia
THE RATNO vazduhoplovstvo i protivvazduhoplovna odbrana (RV i PVO, Serbian Air Force and Air Defence) took delivery of three new Mi-17V-5 helicopters at Batajnica air base on October 16. 
Serial 12493 is one of the Serbian Air Force and Air Defence’s three newly acquired Mi-17V-5s. Dimitrije Ostojic (Photo by Martin Fox)
The Hips arrived in Serbia on board a Russian An-124 transport. The same day, the second of five H145M helicopters contracted for the RV i PVO was ferryflown from Germany.
Two previous Mi-17V-5s, serials 12491 and 12492, have served with the 890. mešovita helikopterska eskadrila (890th Mixed Helicopter Squadron) since July 2016, in basic unarmed configuration.
The three new helicopters, serials 12493, 12494 and 12495, are in combat configuration with four external hardpoints, ASO-2V flare dispensers and armour around the cabin and engines. Serials 12494 and 12495 are additionally equipped with clamshell cargo doors that can be removed for paratrooper training.
Source: Aleksandar Radic / AirForces Monthly – 28 December 2019
Bogdan Gabriel Curcea (East Europe – Romania and Serbia XAirForces News Editor)
bogdan.gabriel.curcea@gmail.com – Facebook.com/bogdangabriel.curcea – Twitter.com/BogdanG_Curcea
