China will help Russia economically by buying more energy and raw materials, invest in Russia's oil and gas fields, giving them some loans and doing more currency swaps. Not by buying more arms and equipment from Russia that they don't need because they can build them at home. Its not just about the money going to the Russians but its also about supporting and growing China's own defence and aerospace industry at home. And that is of the utmost importance to China. China is willing to help Russia but only up to a point.
Z-8 and Z-18 transport helicopter - family & versions
- Thread starter Costas 240GD
- Start date
China will help Russia economically by buying more energy and raw materials, invest in Russia's oil and gas fields, giving them some loans and doing more currency swaps. Not by buying more arms and equipment from Russia that they don't need because they can build them at home. Its not just about the money going to the Russians but its also about supporting and growing China's own defence and aerospace industry at home. And that is of the utmost importance to China. China is willing to help Russia but only up to a point.
superdog
Junior Member
Also, the twin-engine Mi171 may still be a more economical general purpose workhorse in the army, whereas the Z-18/AC313 (most likely more expensive) could be reserved for operations that require higher performances, such as at the sea or in high altitude regions.
superdog
Junior Member
Well, being made in China doesn't mean the Z-18 is guaranteed to be the most cost-effective medium helicopter for all scenarios. If they can still buy Mi171s to fulfill some roles at a lower cost then why not? In the long run I do think China will build all the helicopters they need domestically, but probably not going to happen immediately when they just started to build a few Z-18 and still testing the Z-20.
Z-8/18 may not fill all of the needs for PLA and Mi-171 could be cheaper, which is a good reason to buy some Mi-171. China's defense industry is strong enough at the moment, where not every decision needs to be taken with the idea of how to grow domestic industry, but rather what's more cost efficient for PLA.
Attachments
-
Z-X MIL-AVIC - 38t helicopter - 3.jpg
I meant if the deal was aimed for the army as China only uses mil-26 for humanitarian missions.
Mi-26 and Z-18 have nothing to do with each other. If China only uses Mi-26 for civilian purposes, then that's a separate issue and not related to whether it has Z-18 or not.
