First Mi-24 helicopter overhauled in Uganda

ProHeli CEO Valerii Copeichin shows President Museveni around the MRO facility at Nakasongola Air Base. (State House (Uganda))

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni attended a ceremony on 18 April to mark the completion of the first helicopter overhaul at a new facility in the country.

Ugandan television showed Museveni inspecting the helicopter maintenance, refurbishment, and overhaul (MRO) facility at Nakasongola Air Base and watching a Mi-24P taking off. Unusually for a Ugandan helicopter, it was fitted with dust filters over its engines, suggesting it will be deployed outside the region.

The Ugandan People’s Defence Force (UPDF) said in a statement this was the first Mi-24 to be overhauled in Sub-Saharan Africa and that it was completed in 15 months rather than the three years it would have taken if the helicopter had been sent to Europe.

Opened by Museveni in January 2022, the MRO facility is a collaboration between the UPDF’s National Enterprise Corporation and ProHeli International Services. Satellite imagery shows the facility has been built to the south of the base’s runway and has a large residential area as well as hangars.