Build a Wall! Ukraine Contemplates Creating Militarized State Border With Russia

There’ll be an impenetrable wall on the border between Ukraine and Russia. This time, it's not about the fence. This project is in the past. Kiev claims that the state border would be protected by mobile combat groups. Border guards will be given military equipment and covered from the air. This mission will be carried out by a detachment of combat helicopters. Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov announced its creation. There are no details revealed, we only know that the equipment will be bought for more than 2.5 billion roubles. According to preliminary data, they'll buy from French Airbus. But they also promised to equip the detachment with Ukrainian military machinery. A concern from Zaporozhye has already announced the development of its own helicopter. But no one has seen these models. We can suggest that Ukraine produces air machinery the same way as the ground-based. The president and the Defense Ministry boast of innovation defense industry developments, which appear to be a remake of old Soviet technologies. An allegedly innovative fighting machine is among the latest. It's actually the slightly modernized BRDM-2 from the 1960s. Maybe their helicopters will surprise us. Let's ask Vadim Zavodchenkov. - Vadim, good evening. - Good evening. - Will they fly or not? - Well, Alexei, the helicopter can fly but we can't call it Ukrainian in any way. There's no helicopter building industry in Ukraine. In Soviet times, they only produced engines and separate nodes for helicopters. Attempts to improve the situation aren't always successful. In 2015, the Ukrainian Defense Service announced the creation of the newest light helicopter, Lev-1. Later, it turned out to be a remake of the American Bell-47 helicopter, produced after World War II. It received the Soviet Mi-2 helicopter's engine and became the Lev-1. But making a fighting helicopter out of the multipurpose Mi-2, which is more than 50 years old, doesn't leave the minds of Ukrainian engineers. In 2011, Kiev declared this machine's modernization. A new engine is an advantage, and, as experts note, the disadvantage is the absence of controllable weapons and modern targeting devices. After the relations between Russia and Ukraine deteriorated, Kiev decided that remaking the machinery that was produced in Russia won't be politically correct. And, for example, the MSB-6 Ataman helicopter was copied from the Polish Sokół helicopter, which, in its turn, is the reincarnation of that same Mi-2. Separate attempts to make light multipurpose helicopters in Ukraine can be called relatively successful. But the impossibility to use them for military purposes made their manufacturers go bankrupt. Another reason was that the helicopters were made of expensive foreign nodes. This is what's inside of one of such models called Scout. The engine is American, the avionics is from Slovenia, and the security devices are German. Now, when strengthening the borders, Ukraine decided not to stretch its luck. According to the latest data, apart from European machinery patrol detachments will use modernized Mi-8 helicopters. Roman Gusarov, Avia.ru head: "Ukraine doesn't have all the stages of production necessary to make a helicopter. A helicopter isn't just the engine, it's also a quite complicated mechanism called gear case. It's the rotors of the helicopter, control systems and much more. Ukraine has nothing of this. To fulfill these ambitions, they need large investments". By the way, Ukrainian borders are almost 7,000 kilometers long. According to the aviation norms, a helicopter can patrol around 200 kilometers. To completely cover the borders for several hours, at least 35 helicopters are needed. $ 46 billion is planned to be allocated for helicopter purchases. At the same time, the basic modification of a Mi-8, according to Ukrainian media, costs $ 5-6 million. Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs has great plans, but we know what they lead to most often. It's enough to recall the fate of the famous wall on the border with Russia. - Thank you! Vadim Zavodchenkov told about dream and real flights.