Nice to see the old boys getting some more use. Always liked Sea Kings whenever I got to see them or go in them…
BTW, Ukraine has also received 2 Mil Mi-2 (maiden flight 1961) from Latvia…
H.P.
40 years old? That’s just a young buck. Our Black Hawks first entered service in 1979.
As did our CH-47D’s, many of which were built upgraded from original A models.
Now our B-52’s…
As a kid in the 90s I would often see Westland Wessex helis about here in Ulster. Sometimes they’d be on supply runs to bases and observation posts with bits and bobs slung underneath. I had no idea how old the type was until I saw one in Full Metal Jacket and, after a bit of reading, because googling was not yet a thing, found they’d been in service since the 60s.
The Abrams tank went into production in 1980, and prototypes were being built in 1979. Even older are the P-3’s and the M60 tanks used all over the world.
gary
Then we can look at the M240B and the M4 carbine, both of which can trace their lineage to the '50’s. And let’s not forget the M2 .50.
Even odder is the old M1/M114 howitzer used in Vietnam, and still in use today (in some countries). It’s linage is said to go back to a French WWI howitzer. They are using the old 105mm U.S. built howitzers in the Ukraine! I read somewhere that they are still flying A26’s in Africa!! And somebody still uses the old M20 and M8 armored cars. Wonder who still flies that C47?
gary