Mil' Mi-28 versions

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080122/97491904.html
Russian Air Force receives new Mi-28N attack helicopters
11:41 | 22/ 01/ 2008

MOSCOW, January 22 (RIA Novosti) - Two new Mi-28N Night Hunter helicopter gunships will be transferred to the Russian Air Force on Tuesday by the manufacturer, an AF spokesman said.

The Mi-28N is the latest variant of the Mi-28 attack helicopter, manufactured by the Rostvertol plant in southern Russia. It has been designed to conduct hunter-killer missions against enemy main battle tanks, helicopters, ground forces and armored equipment day or night in adverse weather conditions.

"Air Force Commander Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin flew this morning to Rostov-on-Don to attend the official transfer of two Mi-28N helicopters to an air unit in the Tver Region [Central Russia]," Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky said.

The Night Hunter is powered by two TV3-117VMA turbo-shaft engines developing 2,200-shp each. The armored cockpit protects the crew from small arms fire and absorbs the impact energy during emergency landings, ensuring outstanding survivability.

Its combat range with internal fuel tanks is 450 kilometers (about 280 miles), but with external fuel tanks may be extended to 1,100 km (about 680 miles).

Rosvertol launched mass production of the Mi-28N helicopters last year.

Russia's Defense Ministry is planning to purchase 67 Mi-28N Night Hunter attack helicopters in the next few years and to fully replace the Mi-24 Hind choppers in the armed forces by 2015.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080122/97530653.html
Russian military to purchase 10-15 Mi-28N helicopters per year
16:33 | 22/ 01/ 2008

ROSTOV-ON-DON, January 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Defense Ministry is planning to purchase at least 10-15 Mi-28N Night Hunter attack helicopters every year until 2015, a ministry official said on Tuesday.

The Mi-28N is the latest variant of the Mi-28 attack helicopter, manufactured by the Rostvertol plant in southern Russia. It has been designed to conduct hunter-killer missions against enemy main battle tanks, helicopters, ground forces and armored equipment day or night in adverse weather conditions.

"The [Mi-28N] procurement program will last until 2015. In the next few years, we are planning to purchase 10-15 helicopters per year, and later increase annual orders," said Gen. Nikolai Makarov, chief of Armament for the Russian Armed Forces.

Russia's Defense Ministry is planning to purchase at least 45-50 Mi-28N Night Hunter attack helicopters until 2010, and to fully replace the Mi-24 Hind choppers in the armed forces by 2015.

Rosvertol launched mass production of the Mi-28N helicopters last year.

On Tuesday, the first two mass-produced Mi-28N were transferred to the Russian Air Force by the manufacturer. They will be deployed at a training center in the Tver Region (Central Russia) [Torzhok] .

The Night Hunter is powered by two TV3-117VMA turbo-shaft engines developing 2,200-shp each. The armored cockpit protects the crew from small arms fire and absorbs the impact energy during emergency landings, ensuring outstanding survivability.

Its combat range with internal fuel tanks is 450 kilometers (about 280 miles), but with external fuel tanks may be extended to 1,100 km (about 680 miles).

Meanwhile, Rosvertol general director, Boris Slyusar, said his company was ready to start deliveries of Mi-28N helicopters to Venezuela as early as in the second half of 2009, if the Latin American country signs a contract with Russia.

"We have an official request from Venezuela, but it is too early to talk about the number of aircraft to be delivered and the timeframe until a contract is signed," Slyusar said. "Other than that, we are ready to start deliveries in the second half of 2009."

Russia may also sell the Night Hunter to China, Algeria and some other countries.

Event videos
http://skavkaz.rfn.ru/video.html?id=30899&type=r
http://www.vesti.ru/videos?vid=119468&cid=39&doc_type=news&doc_id=158336
http://news.ntv.ru/124896/

Do you have the latest mi-28N cockpit flateric?

No. Even don't have flight manual...
If you will look the video links I've provided - instrumentation panel appears for several seconds

Hmm...and where's that damn Arbalet radar on 'em?

flateric said:

Hmm...and where's that damn Arbalet radar on 'em?

Click to expand...

It would appear that radar on attack helicopters is going out of vogue. It is good to see that the venerable Mi-24 will get a rest.

OK, Al, till recently I was quite shure that Mi-28N is this...
'OK, guys, here's your choppers. Whole two of 'em! We will install radar...a little bit later, OK?'

Is that a cargo pod on the left wing Flateric?

From the pics there doesn't seem to be a lot of ground clearance for it.

Starviking

More was expected from Hunter
Experts' controversies on combat effectiveness of Mi-28N are growing higher
2006-08-25 / Alexander Babakin
http://nvo.ng.ru/armament/2006-08-25/6_hunter.html

As one of the sources has described to "NVO", Colonel General Staff, recently by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has been collecting military representatives to the military industrial enterprises, devoted to the consideration of many issues for the production of quality products and Army Navy. And especially a lot of criticisms were addressed to Mi-28N combat helicopters .

Meanwhile, in November last year, Army General Yuri Baluyevsky said that it was concerned about the state of the Armed Forces helicopter fleet, which now requires all-weather machines very capable of acting effectively in the daytime and at night. In doing so, the Chief of General Staff said that the one, for these purposes the most suitable Mi-28N.

Thus, Yuri Baluyevsky as approved aloud to the decision taken in March 2005 in the Main Staff of Air Force at a meeting of the state commission, chaired by Air Force Chief Army General Vladimir Mikhailov. Then, without much debate and controversy, it was noted that the preliminary conclusion of the first phase of testing is already deployed serial production Mi-28N - even without waiting for the end of all phases of tests.

And now military representatives from the factories, where "Night Hunters" themselves and their various subcomponents are produced, have expressed much of criticism. Thus, the tail rotor has no protection and is located too low above the ground level. In the field, especially in mountainous areas, with the possible landing of its damage. Cannon is placed under the extreme nose tip, on the most vibrating fuselage part. In gun shooting, Mi-28N loses accuracy of Ka-50 and Ka-52. It's proved to be virtually impossible to stabilize the barrel while conducting fire. Large diameter main rotor causes chopper poor resistance to the lateral winds. These issues complicate the use of helicopters in the mountains. And finally, some of the key attack avionics elements are still in developement stage

"To put a helicopter into series - deputy of the State Duma, Major General Nikolai Bezborodov Aviation commented to "NVO " - are used different, so to speak, methods and ways. Two copies of the Mi-28N has been brought up to the mark. But a serial production is quite a different thing. Although, I think it is a matter of time ". However, Nikolai Bezborodov said that the installation of the container with a radioelectronic equipment (radar - ?!) above the main rotor will certainly lead to problems with control system, and will interference with sophisticated equipment.

A former army aviation commander, Colonel General Vitaly Pavlov also said that the current problems in serial production of Mi-28N will be overcome with time. "This is a good, reliable machine - argues Vitaly Pavlov. -- It is a further development of the world's most flying combat helicopters, Mi-24. Of course, the Ka-50 and Ka-52 are very spectacular in flight and on the ground exposition [on airshow]. But, despite the fact that they are, of course, advanced machines, , they have not yet shown themselves while in combat conditions. "
But, truly speaking, renowned military aviator is mistaken here. Kamov helicopters had been tested in battle conditions. According to the decision of the General Staff in 2001, in the winter, two Ka-50 and one Ka-29PNTSU (surveillance and targeting) helicopters were sent to Chechnya, along with 9 experienced pilots and navigators. They concluded that the Ka-50 flying in the mountains is well controlled - and far better than Mi-24. After the targeting from Ka-29PNTSU, pilots immediately could find and attack objects and groups of the enemy in the mountains, gorges, forests. This time helicopter flew in the full radio silence regime, which allowed him to suddenly appear over the guerilla positions. Armored capsule, ejection seat have ensured pilots survival even after the chopper damage by heavy bursts of machine-gun fire.

Moreover, Yuri Baluyevsky then flew to Chechnya - specially for the evaluation of military capabilities of ‘Experimental helicopter group’ - at the time, he was Colonel-General, Deputy Chief of the General Staff. He noted then, that the Army ‘will receive Ka-50’, according to the "NVO" source
After that, when "Black sharks" voiced criticism as single-pilot machines – was said, that pilot simply will not be able to escape alone in the case of injury, Kamov people pumped a boost and after several years raised double-seated Ka-52 in the air. In 2004, Air Force Chief Vladimir Mikhailov said that "Alligator" far ahead of its competitors from the West judging the criteria of "cost-effectiveness".
However, in 2005 the views of Yuri Baluevsky and Vladimir Mikhailov has somehow changed dramatically ...
On this point, the"NVO" expert, Major General Ret., who has served many years in the Air Force Chief staff, said: "The high rank of officials such as Baluyevsky, Mikhailov, allows them to have all the information on weapons acquisition, let alone the most advanced systems. I think that in the history of the Mi-28N, acquired even with the identified shortcomings, has proved particularly negative policy on weapons in the military departments. Obviously, the helicopter have won with, so to speak, with the proviso that the company would be able ‘to bring it’s to the mark' during the series production. And nobody was interested in the real results of the tender... "
But there are another particularly worrying aspect in this history. Currently, the main Russian army helicopters are created on the classical scheme. They are perfect for tactical and technical parameters, but already outdated military Mi-8 transport, huge and slow MI-26, and the latest Mi-28N with its zillion shortcomings. In the view of one "NVO" expert , all this technology is already outdated. In support of his words, source has explained that Sikorsky representatives - last year at Le Bourget, and this year at Farnborough-2006, - have said that the future belongs only for coaxials.

And I thought Boeing, Northrup and Lockheed had the corner on the market for this sort of acrimony.

I would suspect that the radar is a financial decision, based on the fact that other radar carrying attack helos are not using them at the moment. If the power to weight ratio on the Mi-28 is less than optimal with the radar, then the weight reduction has other financial considerations as well. Also if the technology is difficult to get working, it supports a decision to delay introduction. Of course if the world decides to go back to massed mechanized formation war...

I could interestingly enough make a case that the current, insurgency warfare that appears to be in vogue around the world, better supports the Kamov aircraft. US attack helicopters are for the most part conducting close air support (we have to call it something else so the Air Force does not get upset). If you are doing long range precision shots at armored formations then either helicopter could do the job, perhaps the Mi-28 better as it likely has less radar signature. However in the types of combat taking place in the world today you want an aircraft with the ability to operate in close to ground combat forces. Here I think the Kamov design (to me almost a rotorcraft Su-25) is better, because it does not have a vulnerable tail rotor. If I recall the US did a study after Vietnam and found that a significant number of helicopters that were shot done lost their tail rotors. Most enemy fire hit the back half of the aircraft and this was a liability. I suspect that similar analysis has been done in Russia.

As I mentioned in another thread this morning; Money and politics overcome logic every time. I would imagine that this is a universal truth.

starviking said:

Is that a cargo pod on the left wing Flateric?

Click to expand...

It's called KMGU-2 (Konteiner MaloGabaritnykh Gruzov=Small Size Cargo Container). Mi-28N can carry up to 4 of them.

flateric said:

starviking said:

Is that a cargo pod on the left wing Flateric?

Click to expand...

It's called KMGU-2 (Konteiner MaloGabaritnykh Gruzov=Small Size Cargo Container). Mi-28N can carry up to 4 of them.

Click to expand...

Cheers for that Flateric! ;D

Starviking

"It's called KMGU-2 (Konteiner MaloGabaritnykh Gruzov=Small Size Cargo Container). Mi-28N can carry up to 4 of them."

Are there any similarities to the proposed Avpro EXINT-pod, which should even turn a Harrier
into a CSAR aircraft ?
(from Oliver/Ryan "Warplanes Of The Future")

There's some controversy I believe...First of all, KMGU fully means Konteiner MaloGabaritnykh Gruzov Unificirovanny=Small Size Cargo Container, Unified). I've seen designation more often used for container that holds submunitions, shown at photo attached. But here http://tmru.bizland.com/200009/p13.html you can see photo of KMGU-2 with dimensions given - length 2760 mm, diameter 520 mm...and in the text, there are description of KMGU-2 (again, submunitions/landmine) container with dimensions 3700x480x485...not quite fits with the first description...and the photo...Will ask guys who should know...

you know . the first time i saw an artist's impression of the Havoc and hokum was in The pentagon's 1987 guide to soviet military power. The havoc rendered there seemed a little longer.

http://dinamika-avia.ru/images/products/cbt/mi-2-800.jpg

~50 Mi-28N in service at this moment.

A couple more cockpit pics




Cargo compartment?

Husar said:

Cargo compartment?

Click to expand...

Its a rear avionics space, where in the emergency can go up to three resecued soldiers.

In the october issue of the Flugrevue magazine was a phot of the Mi-28 UB trainer version. I noticed something
like a pitot fitted to the barrel of the trainable gun abd at first associated it with the role of this new version, but
on several other photos it can be seen, too. Can somebody explain to me, what it is for ? Maybe collecting wind/
air data to correct the aiming point ?
Or is it just a kind of bayonet for close combat ?

it's just a temporary aid for calibrating native air data system
not the first time it's seen on Mi-28 test articles

Thanks for this explanation . It looked, as during firing the upper vane would be in
danger, but this culd have been deception. But so, the turret isn't even meant to be
turned with this installation, I think.

Mil June 2015 updates from http://www.ruaviation.com/news/

Mil Mi-28N(E)

Modernised Mi-28N(E) Night Hunter with dual controls is a modification of the helicopter designed for training military pilots and can act as an attack helicopter.

Matej said:

http://dinamika-avia.ru/images/products/cbt/mi-2-800.jpg

Click to expand...

Is that the Mi-28Ns Pilot cockpit or the co-pilot/Gunners?

Interesting documentary of the Mil Mi-28UB, showing for example the airbag deployment and the rear compartment.
Video:
https://youtu.be/sdsGd9hwyc8

I got some information on the radars. http://www.promweekly.ru/archive/kret/KRET_1-2020.pdf pg 56/100

For the first time, Russian Helicopters Holding presents at the Army-2022 forum at the Kubinka airfield a new version of the upgrade of the Mi-28N army combat helicopter. It provides for the refinement of previously produced vehicles by equipping them with dual control, a new optoelectronic station and an onboard defense system, as well as expanding the range of guided missile weapons. As you know, the serial Mi-28N, built at the Rostvertol plant since 2005 and in combat operation since 2008, did not have control from the front cockpit: it appeared only in 2015 on the Mi-28NE exported, and then on the Mi-28UB for our own army aviation, at the same time the cockpit contours, its door and glazing were changed. The upgraded Mi-28N is proposed to be equipped with a gyro-stabilized optoelectronic system GOES-451 manufactured by the Ural Optical and Mechanical Plant named after. E.S. Yalamov of the Shvabe holding of the Rostec state corporation (until now, the OPS-28 sighting and sighting station developed by the Krasnogorsk plant named after S.A. Zverev, which is part of the same holding, has been used on helicopters of this type). The GOES-451 system has already earned recognition - it is used on Ka-52 helicopters, which have been delivered since 2010. As reported at the forum, the armament of the modernized helicopter will include guided missiles "Vikhr", "Khrizantema" and "Ataka". It is likely that a similar upgrade option will be offered to potential foreign customers, and it will be possible both to modify the Mi-28NE helicopters already delivered in this way, and to build new export vehicles in this guise.

Click to expand...

izd.305(LMUR) launch from Mi-28NM. Include inside cockpit view:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASNtXlYqEpM

...

I'm not aware of any comprehensive English-language material explaining in any detail whatever debate/politics occurred that led to both the Mi-28 and Ka-52 being acquired, or how the "1990s Mi-28" evolved into the present Mi-28N and NM version other than basically a few sentences saying it happened. Has anyone ever seen any such documentation? I've been looking and it's actually kind of remarkable how little material is out there on it; there was a burst of early post-Cold War information on the first iteration of the Mi-28, then pretty much silence until about 2010, a few dribs and drabs since then but not a ton other than techncial specifications.

As an outsider (to Russia), I would offer that as a large bureaucratic country they suffer some of the same afflictions of other large bureaucratic countries; tribes. With only two lucrative rotorcraft bureaus one has to find things to keep them both moving forward. I know there are other bureaus in Russia, but unless I am mistakes they are somewhat aligned with the two larger bureaus. While both Mil and Kamov have a good line of available civil and military platforms, having only one platform can lead to lethargy.

That said, one must remember that Russia has it's own distinct ways that sometimes seem peculiar to western observers.

CaptainKoloth said:

I'm not aware of any comprehensive English-language material explaining in any detail whatever debate/politics occurred that led to both the Mi-28 and Ka-52 being acquired

Click to expand...

Oh, this is pretty simple: Ka-52 was better than Mi-28N but Mil', since the Soviet era, had traditionally much stronger lobby in the MoD.

Scar said:

Oh, this is pretty simple: Ka-52 was better than Mi-28N but Mil', since the Soviet era, had traditionally much stronger lobby in the MoD.

Click to expand...

I've gathered that, but do you have any comprehensive references?

CaptainKoloth said:

I've gathered that, but do you have any comprehensive references?

Click to expand...

Well, English language as I said above. My Russian is pretty much limited to "da" and "nyet"

My Mandarin is even more limited still Google Translate is your friend.

also see: P.Butowski - Success Years Later / Air International 2016-08