Patriotic Iraqi builds own helicopter to help defend his country’s borders

Published on 03/12/2012 10:46

AN IRAQI man has built his own helicopter in the town of Muqdadiyah, 60 miles north of Baghdad, and intends to use it to help defend his country’s borders.

• The helicopter cost £15,000 to build

• The average Apache attack helicopter costs around $20 million

• The machine is intended for defence

Hatim Kadim Salman, 59, has spent a total of £15,000 (30 million Iraqi dinars) building the machine.

The helicopter, which has been painted blue, is called Diyala 1, as it is named after its home province.

The machine differs from the British military helicopters that were deployed in Iraq.

The Army Air Corps Apache attack helicopters cost around $20 million each, and included air-to-air and air-tank missiles. They were painted green-grey, and featured four blades.

The Diyala 1 features two helicopter blades, a depature from the usual four, and does not appear to have any gun mounts on it.

It is reported that this is the first homemade helicopter in Iraq.