In a major economic loss to United States, a half-an-hour hailstorm in late April this year damaged over 80 US military helicopters in Afghanistan.
Islamabad, June 28/Nationalturk – A hailstorm in late April this year damaged over 80 US military helicopters in Afghanistan, reports said.
“A freak hailstorm hit one of the biggest Nato airbases in Afghanistan in late April this year. The hailstorm, which lasted for half an hour damaged 80 US helicopters,” United Kingdom’s newspaper Guardian reported while quoting a NATO spokesman.
The hailstorm of the size of golf-balls split rotor blades, cracked windows, ruptured the choppers’ metal skin and damaged other parts. “The hail was so intense that after an intensive repair programme eight of the choppers were still inoperable more than three weeks later,” the spokesman said.
The replacement parts for the damaged helicopters, mostly blades, had to be rushed to Kandahar from across Afghanistan, Kuwait and even from the US.
“The sheer number of airframe repairs required after the hailstorm provided five years’ worth of experience for the airframe mechanics,” Regional Command South, coalition headquarters based in Kandahar, said in a news release about the repairs.
Helicopters needed in fight against Taliban
The helicopters were needed as US and NATO forces alongwith Afghan security forces are fighting Taliban militants. The Taliban militants have launched a spring offensive and carried out major attacks since past fortnight to strengthen their position before start of any dialogue process with United States and Afghanistan government. Taliban has opened an office in Doha, Qatar and there are speculations that US government may hold talks with Taliban in coming days.
The helicopters have proved a major advantage to US and its allied forces in fight against Taliban.
Freak heavy hailstorms are not unprecedented in the region. Scientists recently said they believed a hailstorm had killed hundreds of pilgrims whose remains were discovered more than a millennium later at India’s haunting “skeleton lake”.
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Faiz Ahmad / NationalTurk Afghanistan News
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