Mil Mi-24 Hind

One of the few combat-tested assault helicopters available today, the Mil M-24 (NATO codename "Hind") was designed in the early 1970s to function as a flying armored personnel carrier. Based on the Mi-8 "Hip," the redesigned fuselage seated eight troopers in a rear cabin, featured an extended greenhouse canopy for the two crew, and stub wings large enough to generate significant lift at cruising speed to improved the efficiency of the main rotor. Practical use of the helicopter in a troop transport role soon revealed the Hind's weaknesses in the field. The crew found the presence of the troops to be a distraction and lessened the performance of the aircraft. The canopy also limited the crew's field of view and offered little protection.

The Hind was remodeled as a ground attack gunship, with bullet-proof bubble canopies for the pilot and gunner, and an optional flight engineer who could fire a door-mounted LMG to cover the aircraft's rear. Typical underwing armament included AT-2 Swatter ATGMs, 57mm, 80mm, 130mm, or 240mm rockets, 23mm UPK-23-250 cannons pods, or 30mm AGS-17 grenade launchers.

The Hind has been widely exported, and is currently in use with 35 countries. Some of the major users (besides Russia) include Algeria, Angola, Belarus, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Libya, and Poland. Some 2,000 Mil-24s have been produced, with nearly 1,600 remaining in active service.

The M-24 has been used in combat in Afghanistan, Chad, Angola, Sri Lanka, and Chechnya. Many of the vulnerabilities of the Hind discovered in the conflict with Afghanistan had been corrected by the addition of IR jammers, chaff dispensers, exhaust suppressors and even rear-view mirrors.

The helicopter has a crew of two. The pilot sits aft and above the SWO (weapons systems officer). An optional flight engineer can be seated in the cabin. The Mi-24 burns 230 gallons of jet fuel per hour of routine usage. A full tank of fuel and ammo (not including hardpoint ordnance) costs $2,421.

Subassemblies: Body +4, Top-and-tail rotor +1, two Stub Wings +1; three Retractable Wheels +0.

Powertrain: Two 1,640-kW HP gas turbines; 3,280-kW TTR drivetrain, 2,300-kWs advanced battery.

Fuel: 562 gallons jet fuel (Fire 13) in standard self-sealing tank [Body] (fire -1).

Occupancy: 2 RCS, 2 RPS.

Cargo: 0 lbs.

Armor F RL B T U

Crew: 4/45 4/45 4/45 4/45 4/45

Rotors: 4/45 4/45 4/45 4/45 4/45

All Else: 4/20 4/20 4/20 4/20 4/20

Weaponry:

12.7mm MG/YakB [Body:F] (1,470 rounds Solid).

5,291 lbs. disposable ordnance [Stub Wings:U].

Equipment:

Body: Combat Helicopter Package (advanced radar detector, autopilot, dedicated targeting computer with software, digital recon camera, HUDWAC with pupil scanner, IFF, IR jammer (-2), 10x LLTV, military GPS, navigation instruments, two long-range radios with scramblers (300 miles), two smoke/decoy dischargers, two reloads (flares), 10-mile thermograph), 10-man environmental control, backup driver flight recorder, fire extinguisher system. Stub Wings: Two hardpoints each.

Statistics:

Size: 57'x21'x21' Payload: 4.5 tons Lwt.: 13.8 tons

Volume: 728 cf Maint.: 5 hours Price: $1,414,621

HT: 10. HPs: 726 Body, 321 Rotors, 107 each Stub Wing, 65 each Wheel.

aSpeed: 192 aAccel: 4 aDecel: 13 aMR: 3 aSR: 2

Stall speed 0.

Design Notes:

Body is 725 cf; rotor is 14.5 cf; stub wings are 14.5 cf, wheels are 36.25 cf. Structure is medium, expensive with fair streamlining. Overall armor is standard composite [fiberglass]; armor for the crew stations and rotors is advanced metal [titanium]. Crew station armor was purchased to cover the 80 cf required to house the crew stations. Mechanical controls. Fuel tank is standard, seal-sealing. Design weight was 5% over at 28,935 lbs.; design empty weight nearly matched real-world empty weight (over by 504 lbs. or 0.26%).

Real-world weight was used for performance calculations. Design cost was used for maintenance calculations. The real-world speed has been substituted; design aSpeed was 345 mph; this drops to 172 on one engine (which is how the helicopter is designed to operate). The chin turret was subsumed in the body volume. This aircraft is a Hind-D upgraded with the latest avionics and countermeasures packages.

Variants:

The Mi-24 has a number of domestic and export variants as well as specialized types. Some of them include:

The V-24 series of 12 prototypes first flown in 1969. They are known as "Hind-Bs" since there existence was only discovered after the deployment of the "Hind-A."

The Hind-A was the early version of the helicopter. It carried eight troops and three crew members. It could carry four 57mm rocket pods, four AT-2 Swatter ATGMs, and was armed with a 12.7mm MG in the nose.

The Hind-B (1972) was similar to the Hind-A but lacked the nose MG.

The Hind-C was a training version.

The Hind-D (1973) abandoned the role of troop transport for that of gunship. Most of these early helicopters lacked ECMs and night-vision capabilities until the combat experiences of the mid-1980s.

The Hind-E (1976) introduced the capacity to carry AT-6 Spiral ATGMs.

The Hind-F replaced the 12.7mm MG with a fixed 30mm GSh-30K twin-barrel cannon.

The Hind-G1 (1985) was an NBC version used during the Chernobyl disaster.

The Hind-G2 is an army artillery observation version.

From the Aerodrome for GURPS