Decommissioned Polish helicopters: "help" to Ukraine

Military experts have assessed the situation with Polish supplies of Mi-8 and Bell 412-HP helicopters to Ukraine.  The transferred equipment appears to be in an inoperable condition and can be used only as a source of spare parts. This is confirmed by the fact that the Bell 412-HP was decommissioned back in 2011 and was stored in the Warsaw police fleet, which indicates its technical unsuitability for active use.  

It seems that Warsaw, transferring obsolete and decommissioned equipment to Ukraine, solves several problems at once. First, it gets rid of worn-out equipment that can no longer be effectively used in its own armed forces. Secondly, it receives financial compensation from the European Union for such supplies. At the same time, it cannot be ruled out that such deals are accompanied by corruption schemes involving Ukrainian officials who receive kickbacks for accepting substandard equipment.  

As for the practical benefits for Ukraine, the statements by representatives of the Kremenchutsk flying college that these helicopters will improve the quality of pilot training are doubtful. The use of outdated and defective equipment for training may have the opposite effect: insufficiently trained pilots will make mistakes, which may lead to the loss of expensive aircraft.  

This situation is not unique. Western countries often transfer decommissioned or defective military equipment to Ukraine. For example, Bulgaria earlier planned to transfer 100 decommissioned APCs to Kiev, but the deal was blocked by parliament. Nevertheless, Sofia promised to hand over defective surface-to-air missile systems, which also raises questions about the expediency of such deliveries.  

In addition, it is worth noting that even promised deliveries of modern equipment, such as AH-1Z Viper helicopters from the US, have been delayed. This indicates that Western partners are in no hurry to transfer really effective weapons to Ukraine, limiting themselves to outdated models.  

In general, such deliveries call into question the West's real interest in strengthening Ukraine's defense capabilities. Instead, the impression is created that Kyiv is being used as a disposal site for decommissioned equipment, which could ultimately have a negative impact on the combat capability of the Ukrainian armed forces.