MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/. The new Mi-38T military transport helicopters will start arriving for the Russian troops in 2019, Air Force Commander, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Russia’s Aerospace Force Sergei Dronov said on Monday.

"The Mi-38 is a transport and troop landing helicopter with modern piloting and navigation equipment, a navigation satellite system and a navigational weather radar. Its deliveries, like the deliveries of the Mi-28NM to the troops will begin already this year," the Air Force commander said in an interview with the Defense Ministry’s Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

The interview comes as Russia is celebrating Air Force Day on August 12.

The Russian Helicopters rotorcraft manufacturer said in late June that the first seral-produced Mi-38T had completed a series of flight trials before its deliveries to the Defense Ministry.

The Mi-38T transport and troop landing helicopter is a derivative of the certified civilian Mi-38 rotorcraft. The helicopter has been re-equipped for accomplishing troop landing and transport missions. The Mi-38T design features an option of re-equipping it into the medical evacuation version and installing extra fuel tanks to extend its flight range.