Mi-24 Hind
The Mil Mi-24 Hind is a uniquely configured Soviet/Russian attack helicopter that combines a heavy gunship with an 8-troop transport compartment — the most combat-used rotary-wing type in history and still in production as the Mi-35M.
A uniquely configured Soviet/Russian attack helicopter combining a heavy gunship with an 8-troop transport compartment — the most combat-used rotary-wing type in history, still in production as the Mi-35M and fielded by operators on four continents.
Overview
The Mil Mi-24 "Hind" is a twin-engine armed helicopter designed by the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and built by Rostvertol. It fuses the firepower and armor of a dedicated attack helicopter with a passenger cabin able to carry up to eight fully equipped troops — a hybrid doctrine unmatched by any Western counterpart. Entering service in the early 1970s, it has been continuously modernized through the Mi-35M (NATO "Hind-E") standard and remains in serial production. Russia fields roughly 329 Mi-24/35 airframes, while total family production across all variants and export customers is estimated at several thousand, making it one of the most widely operated military helicopters ever built.
Development
The Mil design bureau conceived the Mi-24 in the late 1960s under the requirement for a heavily armed "infantry fighting vehicle of the air" — an assault helicopter that could deliver fire support and then land troops directly onto the objective. The V-24 prototype first flew in 1969, and the initial production Mi-24A reached Soviet front-line aviation units in the early 1970s, as chronicled in Key.Aero's comprehensive family review. The design evolved rapidly through the Mi-24D (standardized tandem cockpits), the Mi-24V with the Shturm-V (AT-6 Spiral) anti-tank guided missile system, and the Mi-24P with a fixed 30 mm cannon, drawing on combat feedback from Afghanistan. The modernized Mi-35M entered production in 2005 with a shortened stub wing, fixed landing gear, new sensors, and VK-2500 engines, while the parallel Mi-35P upgrade package retrofits night/adverse-weather capability onto earlier airframes.
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