As the U.S. the strategy of the U.S. to use Russian helicopters to build the core of the Afghan new Air Force continues, it has grown increasingly contentious with congressional members as they call for the U.S. to arm Afghanistan with American aircraft.

The Pentagon has already spent approximately $217.7 million last year to purchase and refurbish a dozen of the Russian-made Mi-17 transport helicopters and has plans to purchase an additional 30 at a cost of $572 million.That program was initiated in 2011.

The Russian-made helicopter is exported by Rosoboronexport, the same company that supplies aircraft and arms to the Syrian government.

The Pentagon defends its decision to use the Russian-built Mi-17, which was designed with Afghanistan in mind, because that is the machine that is currently flown by Afghanistan pilots. None of the pilots in the Afghan Air Force have ever flown a U.S.-built chopper. An intensive training program would have to be initiated to change that fact. After the Pentagon re-evaluated their decision to buy the Russian chopper, they announced that they failed to find an alternative in the U.S. that met the Afghan needs.

The purchase will be made with funds approved in 2012, which will allow the Pentagon to sidestep the ban in place that prohibits purchases from the Russian exporter. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said that even if the purchase wasn’t possible with the 2012 funds, that the Pentagon would have applied for a waiver to continue the purchase. The 2013 National Defense Authorization Act prohibits the U.S. to contract with Rosoboronexport.

Workers at Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation are bristling at the Pentagon’s purchase plans. Workers there are facing lay-offs and state that new contracts to fill Afghan aircraft needs would save their jobs.

This week, Alaska’s Senator Mark Begich, along with the Republican Senator from New Hampshire, sent a letter to President Obama requesting that the Pentagon sever all ties with the Russian export company. In that letter, Alaska’s Senator stated, “American taxpayer dollars should not be provided to a Russian state-owned corporation that is complicit in the murder of thousands of innocent Syrian men, women, and children.”

A similar letter was sent to the Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel earlier this year by 10 bi-partisan members of the house.