Hail the Hind!

摘要

The Mil Mi-24/35, allocated the NATO reporting name Hind, is an attack helicopter with a limited transport capability. A product of the Cold War, the type is still widely operated by a number of nations across Central and Eastern Europe. Used to equip the air arms of no less than seven countries with a total fleet exceeding 180 aircraft in the early 2000s, today the combined fleet is less than 70 in active service, operated by five NATO air arms and two non-NATO member states. The Hind family is still in a class of its own as a battlefield helicopter and the former Cold War combat rotorcraft is also regarded as the most widely used attack helicopter of all time. The Mi-24V Hind-E version and its slightly improved derivative, dubbed the Mi-35, are the most numerous in service in the region, but the fleets have been suffering from increasingly obsolescent systems and armament. Conceived in the mid-1970s as an armoured attack helicopter with considerable transport capability, the Hind sports a cabin big enough for eight troops, but this design feature is rarely used operationally. It has plenty of life extension potential and will continue to serve in eastern Europe well into the next decade due to the lack of any credible and affordable successors in some countries.