Aircraft - Mil Mi-28 „Havoc“

Last crawled date: 11 months, 2 weeks ago

The Mil Mi-28 (NATO reporting name 'Havoc') is a Russian all-weather day-night military tandem two-seat anti-armour attack helicopter. It is a dedicated attack helicopter with no intended secondary transport capability, better optimized than the Mil Mi-24 for the anti-tank role. It carries a single gun in an undernose barbette, plus external loads carried on pylons beneath stub wings. Development began following completion of the Mi-24, a unique attack helicopter with transport capability, in 1972. In January 1988 the first Mi-28A prototype flew. A changed military situation after the Cold War made specialized anti-tank helicopters, like Ka-50, less useful. On the other hand, its all-weather two-seater variant Ka-52 had worse performance due to increased weight. The advantages of the Mi-28N, like all-weather action ability, lower cost, and similarity to the Mi-24, have become important. In 2003, a chief of Russian Air Forces stated that Mi-28N will become the standard Russian attack helicopter.