Flightline: 58/TBD

"user314" (user314) 10/08/2020 at 11:00 • Filed to: flightline, Planelopnik, Helicopter, Helicopterlopnik

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An Mi-24V ‘Hind-E’ of the Russian Air Force

The Mi-24, NATO reporting name ‘Hind’, was developed in the USSR in the late 1960s as a ‘flying infantry fighting vehicle’. Despite initial resistance from senior members of the Soviet armed forces, reports of American gunships and transport helicopters in Vietnam and elsewhere convinced the USSR to back Mikhail Mil, head designer of the Ministry of Aircraft’s factory number 329, who was championing the idea. Mil’s engineers settled on a large design with room for a crew of two and eight troops, powered by two turboshaft engines and with wings to provide lift and allow mounting of rockets, missiles, and bombs. A series of test mules and prototypes began flying in 1969, with modifications being made along the way with the aim of improving performance, and the initial Mi-24A was accepted by the Soviet state arsenal in 1972.

The early models featured a single canopy made up of flat plates, similar to the AH-64, The fuselage and rotor blades are proof against 12.7mm rounds, and the pilot and gunner are protected by armored glass and a titanium bathtub. The cockpit and crew compartments are also overpressurized to protect against !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Mi-24 precursors and prototypes.

One consideration of the Mi-24's design was speed. The airframe is as streamlined as was possible, including making the landing gear fully retractable. A modified Mi-24B, code-named A-10, was used in several speed and time-to-climb world record attempts. The helicopter had been modified to reduce weight as much as possible, including the removal of the stub wings. On 21 September 1978, the A-10 set the absolute speed record for helicopters at 368.4 kmh (228.9 mph) over a 15/25 km course, which stood until 1986, when it was broken by the current official record holder, a modified British !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Pilot’s cockpit of an Mi-24D

The first major revision came in 1973 with the Mi-24D (‘Hind-D’), which was redesigned with a tandem canopy over the pilot and gunner’s positions. It also reinstalled the 12.7mm machine gun turret in the nose, and was able to fire upgraded !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (AT-2B/C) anti-tank missiles. This version was exported under the designation Mi-25.

An Iraqi Mi-25 ‘Hind-D’, striped and made unusable.

The next major upgrade came with the Mi-24V (‘Hind-E’), which replaced the AT-2 missiles with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (AT-6 ‘Spiral’). More than 1500 Mi-24V were produced. The Mi-24VM were fitted with upgraded avionics to improve night operations, as well as allowing a wider array of anti-tank and self-defense air-to-air missiles. The 12.7mm gun was replaced by a 23mm cannon. Exported as the Mi-35.

The Mi-35M is a dedicated night-attack variant for the Russian Air Force, and was also exported. The -35M includes night vision systems, GLONASS/GPS integration, cockpit MFDs, and jam-proof communications.

VVS (Russian Air Force) Mi-35M night-attack Hind

Hinds have been exported to over 50 users since 1969, and have been in combat with various forces since 1977. Most famously, the Soviet Union supplied Hinds to the Afghan Army prior to the USSRs invasion, and the Soviet army had somewhere between 100-250 Mi-24 of its own in theater during the 1979-1989 war. The Afghan war called the ‘flying IFV’ idea into question, as Hind crews found the troops more of a hindrance, and the Mi-24 proved to be better at protecting Mi-8 troop transports than deploying its own soldiers. Ground crews often removed the armor from the troop compartment to save weight, a concern in the high and hot Afghan mountains, which robbed the turboshafts of power. Mi-24s also escorted convoys and performed strike missions. While armored against light AAA, the Hinds proved to be vulnerable to MANPADS, with rebel forces using the Soviet’s own !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! missiles before the CIA began to supply them with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! s and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! s. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! anti-tank weapons also proved to be effective against Hinds, though using them proved to be difficult.

Despite plans to replace the Hind with the Mi-28 and/or Ka-50/52, changes in tactics and technology, as well as the fortunes of the Russians, have given new life to the design, and there are no signs of the Mi-24/35 being retired anytime soon.

Two Mil Mi-35 Hind helicopter fires its 12.7 mm gatling gun during a training sortie over southern Afghanistan October 4th, 2009. U.S. Airmen with the 438th Air Expeditionary Training Group use the helicopter to train Afghan aviators while deployed to Kandahar Air Field.

Mi-24 Super Agile Hind, a modernized Hind by the South African firm ATE

promoted by the color red > user314 10/08/2020 at 11:08

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facw > user314 10/08/2020 at 11:09

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user314 > facw 10/08/2020 at 11:14

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Unconventional, but effective!

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > facw 10/08/2020 at 12:14

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Where is this from? I'm assuming this sequence is set to a killer soundtrack and I wanna hear it too

facw > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability 10/08/2020 at 12:36

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lagoon#Anime

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > user314 10/08/2020 at 13:08

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This looks positively alien- insect ish

ttyymmnn > user314 10/08/2020 at 13:10

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A flying IFV.

user314 > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time 10/08/2020 at 13:40

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It’s a tarantula hawk .

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > user314 10/08/2020 at 13:57

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lots of pics and details here- https://thaimilitaryandasianregion.wordpress.com/2015/10/28/mi-24-super-hind/

Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com > user314 10/08/2020 at 13:59

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!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > user314 10/08/2020 at 14:23

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I’ll never forget when I was a kid, my dad took me on a base in the desert and one of those was sitting in the hanger. I guess it was in a training squadron of foreign aircraft if I remember correctly. There was other stuff but I only remember that one staring at me with the rounded alien cockpit.