Posted on 04/23/2016 6:39:47 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
The Mi-28 attack helicopter was developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War as an answer to America's AH-64 Apache. Nicknamed "Havoc" by NATO, it was designed to kill NATO tanks and armored vehicles. As such, the Havoc needed to be able to take hits—even to the cockpit—and keep flying.
Despite the similarity between the Havoc and the Apache, we're pretty sure that American helicopter designers didn't test the Apache's armored cockpit by shooting machine guns at it—with people inside.
Yes, as the video shows, Soviet designers actually put a person inside a mock Mi-28 Havoc, then fired a number of different weapons at the armored glass. A number of guns appear to be trained at the glass, from what appear to be puny 7.62x39 rounds from an AK-47 all the way to a KPV 14.5-millimeter anti-aircraft heavy machine gun.
The exact composition of the Mi-28's glass armor is unknown, but it's alleged to be between 1.7 to 2.1 inches thick. The glass is probably made of alternating layers of laminated glass and polycarbonate. Only two things are for certain: the cockpit could really taking a beating, and being part of military testing in the Soviet Union was probably not the most fun job in the world.
It's a PR stunt, pure and simple. There is no engineering reason to put a person in the test article for this test. Lots of good reasons not to.
Wasn't there a company that makes bullet-proof (well, bullet resistant) glass for cars that did this? I seem to remember a commercial or YouTube video of the company president getting in one of their cars and having it shot with live ammo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIhyETXW1u0
It makes sense to someone trying to truly make people believe they built something that does what they claim. This vid is the guy who invented Second Chance body armor testing it on himself.
that makes sense. thanks.
Cool video. Actually, the “human in the cockpit” test looks like the final exam after a long series of successful empty cockpit tests.
Brass balls for sure. And our own men did the same things. Alan Shepard on that Mercury shot was a crapshoot of survival, rushed to the pad in a few weeks, to try to redeem us after Gagarin’s flight.
Yeager going mach 1 when it was well thought that the plane would likely disintegrate. Of course there was no reasonable way to bail. Some of the diving tests we did on navy men were just nuts.
We even had Marines in trenches way too close to atomic blasts to test them and their equipment afterwards.
The government will risk killing you to achieve a relatively mundane goal. It poses no serious moral dilemma for them. Every grunt has a day when they truly, deeply, realize this.
“The Russians aren’t stupid. They weren’t testing - they were demonstrating it. They already knew very well it could stop bullets when they put a person in it.”
The video shows exactly that. A progression of tests, with a final test involving a human inside. Also a fine way to let pilots know they were in a modern Il-2 Sturmovik and they can settle down and press in attacks.
I bet this is shown in transition training to new pilots.
Good point. I didn't think of that - that has to be the main purpose of this video!
We tested the effects of radiation from nuclear bomb blast by putting navy ships near blasts... (yes, with sailors on the ships)
Best guy to put in the cockpit during a test is the leader/head of the design team. You talk about "incentive to succeed"...but that is about as strong a one as you can get.
One nasty looking bug.
In Russia, dummy is more expensive than person.
There is a video. The video was clearly done for a purpose. Not hard to imagine testing the equipment extensively with live fire, then on the aircraft, then, finally, after they'd come out with this amazing armor and glass, take a video to show to pilots who might otherwise be skeptical of claims made by their not-so-trusted government flunkies. Now the pilots know, and knowing is half the battle.
I saw that comedian the other day when I was watching The Money Pit. I love that show.
That makes sense, a lot of sense.
“There are two examples of flying iron tub planes I can think of. The old P-47 Jug and the A-10 Warthog.”
Sturmovik.
A dummy didn’t design the cockpit glass - an engineer did. Putting the engineer inside for the test ensures that you’re getting his highest quality work.
Do they have video of the unsuccessful tests?................ : )
Maybe we should do this—we have lots of folks in Prison that we could use—if they live we can let them go.
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