WASHINGTON The US government came under fire from Congressmen for buying Russian-made helicopters instead of American choppers to form Afghanistans air force, The Washington Post reported. The report said the US Defence Department was criticised for planning to purchase 10 Russian Mi-17 helicopters next year for the Afghan National Army Air Corps, after the Pentagon has already spent $648 million to buy or refurbish 31 aircrafts. Some Congressman charged that the government failed to consider alternatives to the Mi-17s, which were widely used in Iraq and Pakistan, creating a lack of competition and allowing Russias defence contractors to hike their prices. Senators Richard Shelby, a Republican, and Christopher Dodd, a Democrat, urged the government to reconsider and purchase the US-built aircraft. The Mi-17 programme either has uncoordinated oversight or simply none at all ... The results have led to massive waste, cost overruns, schedule delays, safety concerns and major delivery problems, the Washington Post quoted Shelby as saying. However, US and Afghan military officials argued that changing helicopter models would cause problems for Afghan pilots, who were not trained to fly American-built helicopters. General Mohammed Dawran, chief of Afghanistans air corps, said most of the pilots were in their 40s and set in their ways. Teaching them to fly an American-made chopper would be an uphill battle, the newspaper reported. Brigadier General Michael Boera, the US Air Force general in charge of rebuilding the Afghan air corps, believes the helicopters origins need to be forgotten for the good of the fledgling air force. Weve got to get beyond the fact that its Russian ... It works well in Afghanistan, the newspaper quoted Boera as saying.