The world’s largest serial-produced Mil Mi-26 heavy transport helicopter arrived for a squadron of the Russian Central Military District’s Army Aviation brigade stationed in Chelyabinsk Region, Ural Mountains region. The helicopter entered service with the transport helicopter unit and completed the unit’s formation. The Urals army aviation brigade was set up on December 1, 2018. The brigade operates Mi-24P gunships, Mi-8MTV5-1 armed transport and Mi-26 heavy transport helicopter. The flights took place in difficult weather conditions at an altitude of 20 to 3 thousand meters.
The Mil Mi-26 (NATO reporting name: Halo) is a Soviet/Russian heavy transport helicopter. Operated by both military and civilian operators, it is the largest and most powerful helicopter to have gone into serial production. The helicopter was designed by Marat Tishchenko, protégé of Mikhail Mil, founder of the OKB-329 design bureau. The Mi-26 was designed to replace earlier Mi-6 and Mi-12 heavy lift helicopters and act as a heavy-lift helicopter for military and civil use, having twice the cabin space and payload of the Mi-6. The primary purpose of the Mi-26 was to transport military equipment such as 13-tonne (29,000 lb) amphibious armored personnel carriers and mobile ballistic missiles to remote locations.
The Mil Mi-24 (NATO reporting name: Hind) is a large helicopter gunship, attack helicopter and low-capacity troop transport with room for eight passengers. It is produced by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and has been operated since 1972 by the Soviet Air Force and its successors, along with 48 other nations. The Soviet and later Russian Mil Mi-24 helicopter has been produced in many variants. The Mi-24P (Hind-F) is a gunship version, which replaced the 12.7mm machine-gun with a fixed side-mounted 30mm GSh-30-2K twin-barrel autocannon. The Mi-24 fuselage is armored and can resist impacts from 12.7 mm (0.50 in) rounds from all angles. The cockpit is protected by ballistic-resistant windscreens and a titanium-armored tube.
The Mil Mi-8 (NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union, and now produced by Russia. In addition to its most common role as a transport helicopter, the Mi-8 is also used as an airborne command post, armed gunship, and reconnaissance platform. The Mi-8 is among the world’s most-produced helicopters, used by over 50 countries. The new Mi-8MTV-5-1 helicopter’s UV-26M passive jamming dispenser is designed to protect aircraft and helicopters from guided missiles by jamming their guidance systems and executive mechanisms with passive countermeasures, effective in optical and radar frequency bands.