The Soviet chopper that fights cartels. A rarely armed Mexican Air Force Mi-8MTV-1 Hip. More info below (Album)

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the establishment of relations with the newly formed Russian Federation, Mexico purchased many weapons from Russia until the mid-2000s, including the Mi-8, Mi-2, Mi-17, Mi-26, BTR-60, Ural 4320, An-32B, 9k38 Igla and some others.

The largest purchases were the Russian helicopters, especially the Mi-8/17 series, which are still in service and have been used by almost all “branches” of the armed forces, such as the Mexican Air Force, the Mexican Navy, the Federal Police and the newly formed Guardia National. These helicopters were first deployed during the infamous “Chiapas Conflict”, in which several indigenous villages rebelled against the controversial government policy (NAFTA).

The Mi-8/17 helicopters have seen many combat operations in the drug war against the cartels, often used as transport helicopters and air support with miniguns, the rare use of gunpods and rocket pods will probably never be used again, as Mexico seems to prefer other helicopters for this purpose, such as the UH-60 and the MD-500. The Mi-8 is very popular with Mexican pilots and Mexican aviation enthusiasts.

These helicopters were shipped to Russia around 2014-2015 for upgrades. It was also assumed that more would be purchased or that Mexico would purchase newer Russian helicopters such as the Mi-38T, but due to the political climate regarding the invasion of Crimea and the threat of US sanctions against Mexico, Mexico decided to stop purchasing Russian weapons altogether. They are slowly being replaced by other helicopters such as the EC725 and Sea/Blackhawk. Older models such as the Mi-8T have been decommissioned and placed in various museums.