Mi-24P (Hind-F)
The 40-year-old Mi-24P machines are returning to service. In military circles, they are called "Crocodiles" - helicopters built according to the aircraft scheme, armored and extremely dangerous because of their strike capabilities. In the presence of more modern Mi-28N and Ka-52, as it turned out, there is no alternative to these monsters. And the point is not at all that we lack new attack helicopters. Simply, as time shows, the solutions implemented by the designers of the Mi company were so ahead of the situation that it is impossible to refuse them even now. Look at the Americans. They returned to service the F-15 fighter, which, it would seem, had already been buried with the advent of the new, fifth generation of F-22 and F-35 aircraft. In the 2020 budget, the Pentagon is ready to allocate about $1.2 billion for the purchase of "oldies".
The reason to recall the Mi-24 was the patent of the Russian Helicopters company for a new look for a helicopter with the "P" index - a cannon. According to the document, the machine is a deep modernization of the Mi-24P helicopter. It is planned to equip it with a twin-engine power plant, a digital flight and navigation system and an armament complex with a surveillance and sighting system capable of operating at any time of the day and guiding guided missiles.
In addition, the new transport and combat vehicle will be equipped with an airborne defense system and external threat detection sensors, which will be placed on the outer pylons of the wing consoles. The helicopter will also receive a system for ejecting decoys to counter man-portable air defense systems. A variant is possible in which the pilot's helmet will be equipped with night vision goggles, and the external and internal lighting equipment will be adapted for the use of such goggles.
There is a combat apparatus tested by all possible wars, and there is a decision to modernize it. In the case of both armored vehicles and aviation, the most expensive thing in a car is the hull. If the tank was not damaged during a military conflict, then its armored capsule serves for at least 50 years. The same applies to aircraft. And putting a new engine, transmission and electronics inside is the business of the Kulibins. Actually, the Americans, who are disappointed in their fifth generation fighter F-22, are following this path . By 2030, it is planned to write off all Raptors and upgrade the fleet, including the more "understandable and simple" F-15 in the form of an upgraded version of the F-15EX.
Air Force Chief of Staff, quoted by Air Force Mag , Charles C. Brown says his top priority is to reduce the combat aircraft lineup from seven to five aircraft. The Air Force should be left with only the F-35A, F-15EX Eagle II, F-16 (or its possible replacement) and NGAD (next generation advanced air dominance platform) plus a reduced fleet of A-10 attack aircraft that have undergone re-equipment and modernization. The entire F-22 Raptor fleet of 186 units is subject to reduction. By 2030, this fleet will be replaced by no more than a hundred NGADs.
This is an example of a rational attitude to the issue of maintaining the current fleet of aircraft - machines that are really capable of performing combat missions. In this series, the Mi-24P is one of the favorites. Over the years of production of such machines, as many as 3.5 thousand units were produced.
Mi-24, according to NATO codification - Hind (from the English "doe"), in the Russian army is called "Crocodile". One of the reasons for this is the fuselage of the helicopter. As a rule, all machines of this type are square boxes with a propeller, while the Mi-24 has an elegant, elongated shape, more like an airplane.
The basic modification of the Mi-24 became one of the world's first specialized combat vehicles. The aircraft was originally designed for fire support of troops on the battlefield, landing tactical assault forces, and performing transport functions. In fact, they created a flying infantry fighting vehicle with armor and fire capabilities like a tank. The helicopter was created under the index V-24 in the late 1960s in the experimental design bureau of the Moscow Helicopter Plant (now - JSC "Moscow Helicopter Plant named after M.L. Mil" as part of the Russian Helicopters holding). The development was carried out under the guidance of general designers Mikhail Mil and Marat Tishchenko, chief designer Vyacheslav Kuznetsov.
The Mi-24 is designed according to the classic single-rotor scheme with a five-blade main rotor and a three- or four-blade (depending on modification) tail rotor. It has two gas turbine engines, a wing with a negative transverse angle (to improve lateral stability at high speeds), a tricycle wheeled landing gear with a nose strut (in some modifications, the landing gear is retracted in flight). Crew - two or three people, depending on the modification. The gunner-operator and pilot are placed in an armored pressurized cabin one after another, the flight mechanic is in the cargo compartment in the central section of the fuselage.
Payload - up to eight paratroopers or four wounded on a stretcher, or from 1.5 to 2 tons of cargo. The maximum takeoff weight of the vehicle is 12 tons, cruising speed is 240 km/h, and the maximum speed in level flight is 300 km/h. The practical ceiling is 3 thousand. The helicopter has a built-in small arms and cannon armament. At six points under the wing, it can carry suspended weapons - containers with machine guns or grenade launchers, guided and unguided rockets, air bombs.
The patent of Russian Helicopters focuses on the artillery version of the machine. Judging by the drawing, the designers, in fact, do not offer anything new - a bow, rotary artillery mount, like the Mi-28N. Previously, on the Mi-24, the gun was on the left side. On the other hand, why not dream up what kind of gun it is.
The fact is that Russian gunsmiths have been promoting the 57-mm remotely controlled uninhabited combat module AU-220M of the Uralvagonzavod concern for several years. This installation is one of the most promising developments of the domestic military-industrial complex and will go into service with the Russian army in the near future. It has already been adapted to the BMP-3 - "Derivation-PVO", on the heavy BMP T-15 "Armata", they are preparing to put it on airplanes and ships of small displacement.
"The key feature of the development is its versatility: the AU-220M can either be placed on the chassis of an infantry fighting vehicle or armored personnel carrier, or placed on ships or used in a stationary version. I am sure that this module has every chance of becoming a bestseller in the world arms market and making a worthy contribution to maintaining the image of Russian weapons and our country as a whole," Viktor Kladov, director for international cooperation at Rostec, told TASS.
The "land" version of the AU-220 on most combat vehicles the module has a circular rotation of 360 degrees along the horizon, the firing range is up to 14.5 km. A machine gun of 7.62 mm caliber is paired with a cannon (ammunition load - 1 thousand rounds). The rate of fire of these 57-mm products reaches 160 rounds per minute. They can use four types of ammunition - both conventional and remotely detonated and controlled. Today there is information that they plan to put this product on aircraft. This is the so-called Gunship - an aviation means of total destruction of ground targets. In the US Army, it is used during special operations when soldiers need air support. The plane circles in the target area and inflicts a fire strike on it, which cannot hit "friends".
The question of whether the Mi-24 AU-220 can withstand remains open. However, the very design of the helicopter shows its viability even in the presence of more modern versions of the machines. "Crocodile" is one of the unique examples of how you can create a flying tank. This fact is noted not only in the Russian, but also in many foreign armies.
During the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988, the Iraqi "Crocodiles" more than once converged in air duels with their American counterparts - AH-1J "Cobra" helicopters, which were in the Armed Forces of Iran. According to Iraqi data, a total of ten Iranian aircraft and 43 other helicopters were shot down by their helicopter pilots, and on October 27, 1982, one of the Iraqi Mi-24s even managed to shoot down an Iranian F-4E Phantom fighter.
Currently, Mi-35M2 helicopters - a more modern version of the Mi-24 - are actively involved in the fight against drug trafficking in the states of Barinas, Apure and Amazonas in Venezuela. As a rule, these machines are used to detect and destroy land and river caravans carrying drugs," a TASS source in the country's army aviation corps said. According to him, the helicopter is especially effective in destroying drug production laboratories located in hard-to-reach areas. "One The Mi-35M2 is capable of transporting a special group of five to six fighters, supporting it with fire and evacuating it after completing the task," the source emphasized.
The patent for the new look of the Mi-24 helicopter can also be viewed from a different perspective. Since the mid-1990s, the Mi company has been working on a "block modernization of the Mi-24 helicopter." It provided for the possibility of creating various versions of modernized helicopters with different characteristics and capabilities from special "blocks". So, for example, a version of the Mi-24VM was developed, which, as indicated, was distinguished by the presence of a new swashplate, a carrier system and an X-shaped tail rotor from a Mi-28 combat helicopter, as well as an improved composition of on-board radio-electronic equipment (avionics), including a laser rangefinder, new radios, processor and other equipment.
At the end of 1999, a draft design and a mock-up of the round-the-clock modification of the Mi-24M were prepared. The developer offered two options - a simplified and less expensive one, as well as a more complex and expensive one, but also more promising. The customer chose the first one, as a result of which a modernized Mi-24PN was created on the basis of the Mi-24P, flown in July 2000. Serial conversion of Mi-24P helicopters to the Mi-24PN version began at Rostvertol in 2004. That is, all this suggests that even not the most modern machine is constantly being modified and increases its aerobatic and impact capabilities.
The Russian Helicopters patent does not reveal all the details of the Crocodile upgrade. It is clear that it will be equipped with new digital avionics, sighting systems, weapons. Judging by the footage of the use of such machines in a special operation in Ukraine (on both sides), even with more modern helicopters, there is no alternative to these combat monsters.
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