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Secretive Russian-Made Mi-17 Helicopter Makes Unusual Appearance In Tucson
[TWZ] A recent U.S. military urban training exercise involved helicopters of the types used by a shadowy U.S. aviation unit.Residents of the Tucson, Arizona area were startled earlier this week by a group of helicopters, including at least one Russian-made Mi-17 Hip, making very low nighttime flights as part of what turned out to be a U.S. military exercise. This kind of domestic urban training is not uncommon, especially for U.S. special operations forces, and often comes at least as a surprise to bystanders. However, this instance is notably out of the ordinary in that the helicopters look to belong to a particularly shadowy unit. Imagery of the helicopters flying over Tucson first began to emerge on social media on the night of June 17-18. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department subsequently confirmed to local media that the helicopters, one of which was an Mi-17 with an overall gray paint scheme, were affiliated with the U.S. military. The grounds of an abandoned school were used as part of the training exercise. “The only thing I knew was that there was a lot of noise, flash bangs, helicopters, personnel, lights, sirens, that type of stuff,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, who was apparently unaware that this week’s exercise was set to occur, told KOLD News 13, a local CBS-affiliated television station yesterday. “From my understanding, we didn’t even train. We were just there to assist the DoD in their training efforts.”
Nanos apologized for the lack of communication with the public and pledged not to let a similar incident happen in the future. TWZ has reached out to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. military for more information. As it turns out, an additional video, seen below, was posted on Instagram on June 17 showing what looks to be the same gray Mi-17 flying together with a trio of Bell 407 helicopters just outside Tucson. There was also a sighting of an identical-looking Hip at Pinal Airpark northwest of Tucson earlier this month. Whether or not it may have been a factor in the lack of advance notice to the public or to the sheriff about the exercise, the gray Mi-17 seen during the exercise is a dead ringer for Hips tied to a highly secretive U.S. Army element known as the Aviation Technology Office (ATO). Previously known as the Flight Concepts Division (FCD), ATO is headquartered at Felker Army Airfield, which is part of Fort Eustis in Virginia. In addition to gray-painted examples, ATO-linked Mi-17s have also been seen painted tan and wearing a tan-and-brown camouflage scheme. These helicopters have a distinctive configuration that includes a nose-mounted weather radar, a sensor ball turret under the right side of the cockpit, supplemental armor panels around the front, a large particle separator in front of their engine intakes, and various antennas on the fuselage and tail boom. Posted by: Skidmark 2025-06-22 |
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