Update: Myanmar emerges as first export operator of Mi-38T

Two variants of the Mil Mi-38 helicopters (VIP variant in the foreground and military transport version in the background) conduct a flight over Moscow in 2019. Myanmar's new Mi-38T assault transport helicopters have a single-tone green colour scheme. (Leonid Faerberg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Myanmar has emerged as the first export customer of the Russian Mil Mi-38T assault transport helicopter after the military government (State Security and Peace Commission [SSPC]) published images of three helicopters being inducted into service on 7 November.

The photographs of the aircraft appeared in an 8 November press release by the office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services (CICNDS). The photographs and video footage aired by the state-owned Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) on 8 November indicate that in addition to the three Mi-38T helicopters, the Myanmar Air Force (MAF) has also received two new four-engine Shaanxi Y-8F-200W transport aircraft.

SSPC Chairman Senior General Min Aung Hlaing described the procurement of the transport helicopters and aircraft “as an important requirement for the MAF to successfully carry out its national defence and security responsibilities”.

According to the Myanmar Defense & Security Institute (MDSI), a research organisation established by former Myanmar military officers now working with opposition forces, the Mi-38T helicopters arrived at Nay Pyi Taw Air Base in September.

Senior Gen Hlaing said that the helicopters were formally delivered to the MAF on 7 November.

Myanmar's acquisition of the Mi-38T is likely to be due to a 2020 contract with Russia's export agency, Rosoboronexport JSC. In January 2020, without specifying Myanmar, Rosoboronexport announced the “first foreign trade contract for the supply of Mi-38T medium-class multi-purpose helicopters manufactured by the Kazan Helicopters plant … to a foreign customer”.