An Mi26 swallowing heavy equipment while contemplating a C-17 in the background © John Roberts

In almost 600 posts on Plane Talking nothing has generated as much discussion in individual articles as Russian aviation, whether the stories of its airliners, or the Sukhoi PAK FA or T-50 rival (and it seems likely, terminator) of the JSF, closely followed by debate over numerous items solely about the Joint Strike Fighter debacle.

John Roberts, who follows this blog and is now engaged on the civil side of the Somali Peacekeeping operation has sent in some of his own photos of the spectacularly effective giant Russian Mi26 helicopter in operation in Afghanistan where he had been responsible for renovating and maintaining the strip at Tarin Kowt for three years.

20 tonnes, no worries! The Mi26 in action © John Roberts

This is the largest and most powerful helicopter to enter production, and is widely used outside Russia because it is the answer to a range of extremely difficult heavy lift challenges in military and civil fields.

A heavy extraction at Tarin Kowt © John Roberts

Roberts earlier contributed some dramatic C-17 photos he had taken during his tour at Tarin Kowt (example below).

© John Roberts

He was also closely involved in the provision of the Mi26 to the Nederlands Defence Force (NDF) to service their remote bases between Kandahar and Tarin Kowt. The contract started in mid 06 and it is still flying at a rate of up to 100hrs a month.

© John Roberts

Postscript: Below is a higher resolution image of the Mi26-Chinook recovery operation described in the link provided  by Uwe in the comments.