Mexican Army and Navy Prefer American-Engineered Aircraft

"Morogris" for Borderland Beat

In 12 years, the Army and Navy acquired 244 airplanes and helicopters, of which more than half were American-made. Only two were Russia-made.

Between 2012 and 2018, the Army bought 147 aircraft and the Navy bought 97.

In these years, the Mexican government prioritized the acquisition of aircraft manufactured in the U.S. and various European countries. However, Russian-made aircraft were not a priority. From 2016 to date, the Mexican government only purchased two Mi-17V-5 helicopters.

That is less than 1 percent of all purchases. During the six-year period of Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto, U.S. companies supplied 127 aircraft to the Mexican Air Force, especially the Beechcraft firm, which sold 91 units.

The majority of these acquisitions (77) were T-6C + turboprop model airplanes, capable of developing multiple roles ranging from training and light attack functions.

According to the manufacturer, this model is used by the armies of Germany, Canada, Iraq and Argentina.

The other 14 devices purchased from Beechcraft were King Air 350i models. This model is used to transport military personnel and has a capacity of 11 crew members. The company defines this model as “the most famous turboprop commercial aircraft in the world”.

Aircraft and helicopter sales were distributed as follows among the other US companies: Bell, 15; Sikorsky, 10; Gulfstream, 5; and Cesna, 1.

Europe also selling to Mexico

The other half of the 244 aircraft acquired came from European firms. Airbus Group, Mexican government’s European supplier, produces security aircraft through its Airbus Defense and Space division and negotiated 48 devices throughout the past two presidential administrations.

The purchase included various helicopter models, including 13 Cougar, 13 Panther and an EC-22. With regard to airplanes, 19 CN-235 and 295 House model airplanes were bought by the Mexican government, as well as the CN-235-300 Persuader, among others.

Airbus Group, a company with French, German and Spanish capital, is headquartered in Toulouse, France. In recent weeks it was accused of corruption in different countries. They had to pay 3.5 million euros to the US, France and the United Kingdom as legal settlement. 

Other companies with presence in Mexican purchases were the German-based firm Grob Aircraft. They sold 25 aircraft of model 6-120TP to Mexico. The Crezh-based firm Zlin Aircraft sold twenty-two units of the Zlin Z-143.

A few weeks ago, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov revealed that 50 military helicopters were in negotiations with Mexico for sale; however, there is only record of the acquisition of two Kazan ships models Mi-17V-5 between 2006 and 2018.

Following the announcement, the U.S. Dept. of State Deputy Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Hugo Rodríguez, said that according to an initial investigation, "such a sale would cause potential sanctions". The next day, the Mexican Foreign Ministry chief Marcelo Ebrard reported that the Mexican government would not be purchasing any Russian military machinery.

In recent years, Russian-manufactured helicopters have not provided the best security conditions for Mexican military and security troops as three accidents occurred between September 2017 and November 2018 with their equipment.

Source: Milenio