64 Vol. 9 / No. 12/ December/January 2017/18 Global Aviator
of Congo. MONUSCO is one of
the largest peace keeping missions
undertaken by the United Nations,
starting on 30 November 1999 with
Resolution 1279 under the name of
MONUC and was occasioned by the
so called second Congo War, where
troops of the Kabila government
faced several rebel movements.
In spite of the UN mission, which
was extended to a robust mandate with
active usage of weapons, and several
years of relative peace, rebels took the
provincial capital of Goma with one
million citizens in 2012 when Ukrainian
helicopters, the 18th Independent
Helicopter Detachment, was sent to the
area. They were responsible for air recce,
transport of cargo, UN troops and VIPs
as well as providing a show of force.
A large number of flight hours were
challenging for soldiers and equipment,
especially in the Congo. All maintenance
checks in 6, 12 and 24 month cycles
have to be done in country. Extra hours
are frequently necessary to manage all
necessary tasks. Taking into account the
total number of deployments in Africa,
it adds to more than 50 000 flight hours
and more than 200 000 passengers for
the Ukrainian Army Aviators since- At present four Ukraine Mi-8 and
four Mi-24 are based in the Congo.
Although the African deployments
were a huge part of Ukraine’s UN
participation, the situation quickly
changed in 2014 with the beginning
of the Anti Terror Operation (ATO) in
the east of the Ukraine. According to
Colonel Igor Jaremenko, the Brigade in
Brody, those soldiers and helicopters that
were sent to Africa, were sorely missed.
Colonel Jaremenko, who also gathered
flight experience in Germany during his
five-year assignment in Parchim was
in the beginning of the ATO, in charge
of the Fighting Bees at Brody and on 3
July 2017 was appointed Commander
of Army Aviation in Ukraine.
Unfortunately, a withdrawal of the
troops deployed in Africa is not possible.
The long-term contracts with the
United Nations allow a withdrawal
only in cases of catastrophe or war
in the Ukraine/home country. In
generally used linguistic terms the
deployment in East Ukraine is a mission
against terrorists, which, according
to the contracts, does not constitute a
reason to return troops to home base.
Volunteers helped to ease the situation.
Nowadays, it is predominantly patriots
from Dnepropetrovsk (now renamed
Above: Mi-24 with eyes on air intake: The two eyes on the air intake of the Mi-24 is a speciality
of the brigade based at Kalinov.Top: The Mi-8 with under sling load: since the inlet Mi-8-msbv is still not fully completed a high
number Mi8-MT helicopters are still in use in the Ukraine.Military bases