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U.S. Africa Command says that at least two MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter jets, possibly piloted by shadowy Russian mercenaries, have crashed in Libya. Jared Szuba, the Pentagon correspondent for AI-Monitor, Tweeted out that one of the jets was apparently lost on June 28, while the other went down on September 7, 2020. This information had come in a statement from Rear Admiral Heidi Berg, U.S. Africa Command's (AFRICOM) director of intelligence. Another tweet indicates that Berg believes that "Russian fighter aircraft," presumably MiG-29s too, but potentially also Su-24 Fencer strike aircraft, have conducted airstrikes in Libya. AI-Monitor's Szuba follows that up...

The U.S. Marine Corps is looking into whether a contractor might be able to supply Mi-24 Hind gunship or Mi-17 Hip armed transport helicopters to add extra realism to various exercises. Outside companies routinely provide these types of helicopters to play mock enemies at a number of U.S. military training events, but this kind of “adversary” support could become even more relevant as American forces across the services refocus on preparing for high-end conflicts against “great power” opponents, such as Russia. On April 26, 2018, the Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command, or MAGTFTC, posted a draft set of...

Some 50 air forces and air arms around the world operate different variants of the famous Mil Mi-24 Hind attack helicopter. Market for upgrades of this type is therefore huge – and the competition is correspondingly fierce. The best-known upgrades for Mi-24s are offered by different Russian and Czech companies, but also by the Israeli Aircraft Industries, WZL in Poland and SAGEM in France. However, one of the least-well-known yet biggest and most successful upgrades of Mi-24s ever was launched by the South African company called Advanced Technologies and Engineering. The Super Hind upgrade in question resulted in spectacular modifications...

MOSCOW --- The Mi-24/35 (NATO reporting name: Hind) family of gunships developed by the Mil design bureau (now a subsidiary of the Russian Helicopters holding) will remain in high demand on the global arms market in the years to come, according to a source in Russia’s defense industry. "The Mi-24/Mi-35M combat rotor-wing aircraft are very reliable, easy-to-maintain, and inexpensive. The gunships are supposed to have the best cost-effectiveness ration in their class. The acquisition of Mi-24 and Mi-35M helos seems to be the cheapest way to improve the land attack and close air support (CAS) capabilities of a military force....

A pair of recently-overhauled Mi-25s of the SyAAF — serial numbers 2820, left, and 2830 — during a military exercise in late 2011. Syrian Ministry of Defense photo For three weeks starting in early June 2016, the Damascus suburb of Darayya was exposed to merciless aerial bombardment carried out primarily by Mil Mi-25 — NATO code name “Hind” — gunship helicopters belonging to the Syrian Arab Air Force. The Hinds dropped no fewer than 564 bombs over this period, underscoring the Mi-25’s reputation as one of Syria’s worst terror weapons. The Mi-25 is often described as a “downgraded” variant of the classic Mi-24 gunship. It’s a big, heavy,...

Russia has created a highly modified variant of its venerable Mi-24 Hind attack helicopter dubbed the “Prospective Speedy Helicopter” Demonstrator, or Demonstrator PSV. This testbed aircraft aims to take Russian helicopter technology to the next level when it comes to both kinetic performance and avionics. The unique chopper took its first flight on December 23 out of Russian helicopter giant MIL’s plant near Moscow. Designers used the Mi-24K Hind as a starting point for developing this new experimental aircraft, turning the two pilot attack helicopter into a single pilot technology demonstrator. Multiple technologies will be flown on the PSV, including...

Like its Mi-8/17 “Hip” cousin, the Mi-24/35 “Hind” series of Russian helicopters has a slew of unique configurations. Yet one of the most puzzling is the Mi-35MS, a de-armed advanced Hind derivative that has been converted into an aerial taxi for military VIPs. Although the Mi-24—primarily an attack helicopter—was designed with a small cabin able of carrying around eight combat troops, the type does not come to mind as a candidate for a VIP transport conversion. Russia has the Mi-8MTV configuration for that exact role, this is the same Mi-8 configuration that President Putin flies on regularly. Additionally, high-up Russian...

Russia’s Mi-24 attack helicopter is 45 years old. It’s high time we busted some of the more widespread myths regarding the gunship that has gone by many names. Crocodile. Drinking Glass. Devil’s Chariot. Hind. In a celebratory press release in September, Russian Helicopters—part of the state-owned Rostec corporation, which is now responsible for production of the latest Mi-35M version of the Hind—explained that the helicopter “was conceived and built in record time, with development starting in 1968.” That’s not quite true, as we’ll see. Nor is altogether accurate that the Hind has always boasted “high levels of efficiency and reliability...

ISIS has shot up dozens of helicopters, so Baghdad is going shopping In the span of a few short years, Iraq went from having a nonexistent air force to having one just barely getting on its feet. Now Baghdad’s shaky flying corps is getting into real trouble as it tries to contain a worsening civil war. Iraq’s front-line helicopter gunships are taking so much punishment, the government is growing desperate for replacements. On June 20, the Czech defense ministry revealed that Iraq approached Prague with an offer to buy up to seven Mi-35M Hind gunships—the export version of the famed...

ODESSA/SLAVIANSK, Ukraine, May 5 (Reuters) - Pro-Russian rebels shot down a Ukrainian helicopter in fierce fighting near the eastern town of Slaviansk on Monday, and Kiev drafted police special forces to the southwestern port city of Odessa to halt a feared westward spread of rebellion. Ukraine said the Odessa force, based on "civil activists", would replace local police who had failed to tackle rebel actions at the weekend. Its dispatch was a clear signal from Kiev that, while tackling rebellion in the east, it would vigorously resist any sign of a slide to a broader civil war. ...

KYIV, May 5 /Ukrinform/. Militants in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, have shot down one more Mi-24 military helicopter, and nobody was killed in the crash, the press service of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry has reported.

Birmingham's Southern Museum of Flight gets Soviet helicopter (slideshow, video) BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The hull of one of the most feared helicopters in history arrived at the Southern Museum of Flight Tuesday, riding on the back of a trailer 186 miles from the Fort Rucker U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence. It was a camouflage-painted, Mi-24 Hind. The Hind was a flying gunship that became the iconic image of the Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. It was also a metaphor for the unequal struggle between an advanced technology super-power and a lightly armed guerrilla force on the...

Mi-28 helicopter gunship crashes in south Russia A Mil Mi-28 Night Hunter attack helicopter crashed in southern Russian region of Stavropol injuring two crew members, a police source told RIA Novosti. The crash took place at 10.40 am Moscow time on Tuesday [07.40 GMT], three kilometers from the village of Praskovye in the Budyennovsk district. "According to preliminary information, the engine gearbox broke and the crew decided to carry out an emergency landing," the source said. "The aircraft crashed cabin-first into the ground." The injured crew members, one of whom was knocked out in the crash, were hospitalized. The Mi-28N...

Russia will be giving Lebanon a free, unconditional gift of arms and military supplies to strengthen the Lebanese army, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told Lebanese Prime Minister Sa'ad Hariri this week. The gift will include six Mi-24 attack helicopters, 31 T-72 tanks, 36 130-millimeter artillery pieces and 500,000 shells to be used by existing Lebanese artillery.

Russian authorities have agreed to supply 10 Mi-24 advanced military helicopters to Lebanon instead of 10 MiG-29 fighter jets they had previously pledged to provide. According to a report published by al-Nahar news website, the decision was taken after Lebanese President Michel Sleiman asked to receive the state of the art military choppers and the advanced missiles they carry in place of the Russian-made warplanes. President Michel Sleiman returned Friday afternoon to Beirut concluding a 2-day official visit to Moscow, the first ever visit by a Lebanese head of state to Russia. On Thursday, Sleiman met with his Russian counterpart...

Mi 24s role in eelam war IV emphasised by Shamindra Ferdinando The Hingurakgoda-based Mi 24 helicopter gunship squadron played a critical role in the recently concluded eelam war IV with nearly 400 missions in the Northern and Eastern theatres. Known as the No 09 squadron, it had caused devastating losses in coordinated attacks directed at fortified LTTE positions situated close to what Wing Commander Sampath Thuycontha, Commanding Officer of the squadron called forward location of own troops.’ In an interview with The Island, the veteran flyer said that despite having a range of weapons, including dedicated anti-aircraft guns the LTTE...

Polish military helicopter crashes; pilot killed The Associated Press Published: February 28, 2009 WARSAW, Poland: Polish authorities say a military helicopter has crashed and one of the pilots was killed. The Defense Ministry says another pilot and a solder were also aboard the Mi-24 but survived. It said in a statement Saturday that Defense Minister Bogdan Klich has ordered an investigation to determine the cause of the crash, which occurred late Friday near the northern Polish town of Inowroclaw. The ministry identified the pilot who died as 1st Lt. Robert Wagner, 32.

U.S. to donate 186 aircraft to Afghanistan by 2012 Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:47AM EDT By Sayed Salahuddin KABUL (Reuters) - The United States will provide six helicopter gunships to Afghanistan's fledgling air force in August this year, part of a plan to supply 186 aircraft to the country, the head of the Afghan air force said on Thursday. The shipments, which will come in several batches to be completed by 2012, do not include jet fighters for the country where U.S. soldiers form the bulk of NATO and coalition troops in the fight against Taliban insurgents. "We will be...

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 · Last updated 12:01 p.m. PT Afghans ask neighbors to return warplanes By STEPHEN GRAHAM ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER KABUL, Afghanistan -- Twenty-one years ago, Capt. Mohammed Nabi Karinzai pulled down his visor and roared down the runway in his Soviet-made Su-7 jet for the last time - not for a bombing run against Afghan mujahedeen, but for a dangerous sprint into Western exile. Karinzai, now in the United States, never returned since that daring flight from then-communist Afghanistan to neighboring Pakistan, except for a brief incursion as part of a guerrilla unit fighting Soviet occupiers in...

Washington tries to frustrate Russo-Venezuelan military alliance 12/14/2004 11:03 Caracas is expected to replace old US and European combat aircrafts by 50 new Russian MIG-29SMT Fulcrum During a visit to Moscow in late November, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez announced his country was planning to modernize its Armed Forces by replacing old European / US equipment with sophisticated hi-tech Russian weaponry. "We are modernising and strengthening our armed forces against any form of aggression. We are talking about deliveries of 100,000 Russian machineguns," Chavez told a news conference at that time. However, it became known later that the operation is far...