By Aun Pheap - July 22, 2013
The Ministry of Defense on Sunday confirmed that it has received
delivery of two Z-9 military helicopters from China, with 10 more to be
delivered next month to complete a multimillion dollar loan deal signed
between the two countries in August 2011.
Minister of Defense Tea Banh said the Royal Cambodian Air Force
(RCAF) had already flown the two new helicopters, which could be seen
near the Phnom Penh airbase Friday morning, shortly before the return of
opposition leader Sam Rainsy after four years abroad.
A Chinese-built Z-9 military helicopter, one of 12 purchased with loans from China, performs a test flight over Phnom Penh on Friday. (Siv Channa)
“We have to test the new helicopters even though they are new. We
tested them on Friday to check the engines and to ensure the technology
that the helicopters are fitted with is working correctly,” he said,
adding that the Chinese aircraft are fitted with night-vision technology
to enable pilots to fly at night.
The Z-9 is a multiuse helicopter built under license by China’s
Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation and modeled on the French-made
Dauphin helicopter. They can be fitted with high-tech assault weaponry,
but the RCAF has said it intends to use the helicopters for
humanitarian purposes.
“They can and will be used for many purposes such as carrying out
rescue operations and transporting different materials and so on,”
General Banh said.
The new fleet of Z-9s, which will replace an aging fleet of
Russian-made Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters, were paid for by a
$195.5-million Chinese loan, signed in 2011 by Prime Minister Hun Sen
and then-Chinese Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang.
The helicopter purchase is one of a growing number of loans, trade
deals and grants that Cambodia has signed with China over the past few
years, making Beijing Cambodia’s single biggest patron and boosting
China’s political and economic leverage in the country.
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