The United States will supply Ecuador with an undetermined number of UH-60A/L Black Hawk helicopters to replace the Mi-17 helicopters to be transferred to Ukraine, Defense Express has reported, citing the Infodefensa portal.
This transfer will be carried out under the agreements between the United States and Ecuador signed in January 2024, which provided for the transfer of Soviet weapons to Ukraine from the Ecuadorian army's stockpile in return for the latest American-made equipment for counter-insurgency operations against local drug cartels.
Only one of the Mi-17s planned to be transferred from the Ecuadorian Air Force is in good working order, while the rest can only be dismantled for spare parts.
This exchange takes place within the framework of agreements under which Ecuador has confirmed its intention to transfer BM-21 Grad, Osa-AKM air defence systems and Mi-17 helicopters to Ukraine, for which Russia de facto banned its banana imports.
There is no clear timetable for when this transfer will finally take place.
It remains to be seen how long it will take for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to put this equipment into service if the transfer does take place.
Ecuador's leadership has admitted that it plans to give Ukraine essentially scrap metal, which is currently in a non-combatant state. Therefore, there may even be a risk that Ukraine may end up with a set of "spare parts donors".