Navy awards contract for flight demonstration of Soviet-era Mi-2 helicopter

The U.S. Navy has awarded a contract to the University of Iowa to acquire flight demonstrations of a vintage Soviet-era Mi-2 helicopter for their test pilot school. The Naval Air Warfare Center- Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) at Patuxent River, Md., announced its intention to procure the flight training in August.

“The contractor shall provide up to 35 demonstration flight hours in an MI-2 aircraft to the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School (USNTPS) student and instructor pilots to support the QE exercise,” the Navy said in contract documents. The flights will begin Sept. 30 and run through Oct. 11. The flight demonstrations will take place at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School which will require the contractor to ferry the aircraft to NAS Patuxent River, Md.

The flight demonstrations will support the USNTPS and HX-21 student and instructor personnel of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School Qualitative Evaluation Program. The Qualitative Evaluation (QE) Program institutionalized within the USNTPS is a major facet of the curriculum that provides a wide variety of aircraft with differing flying qualities and performance characteristics to the students.

The Mil Mi-2, also known as Hoplite, is a small, three-rotor blade Soviet-designed multi-purpose helicopter developed by the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant in the early 1960s. Nearly 5,500 were made by the time production stopped in 1999. A few Hoplites remain in service today.

The Univeristy of Iowa's Operator Performance Lab operates two Mi-2 helicopters as flight-proven airborne testbeds for a variety of sensor and instrumentation packages, configurable for vertical lift flight test needs.

The total value of the Navy flight demonstration contract is $126,645.00, according to contract documents.