Mil Mi-24 facts for kids

class="infobox " style="float: right; clear: right; width: 315px; border-spacing: 2px; text-align: left; font-size: 90%;" ! colspan="2" style="text-align: center; font-size: large; padding-bottom: 0.3em;" | Mi-24 4.jpg |-

|- | colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | |-

|colspan="2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #aaa;text-align:center;" |

|-

! Role | Military helicopter |- ! National origin | USSR/Russia |- ! Manufacturer | Mil |-

! First flight | 19 September 1969 |-

! Status | In service, in production |- ! Primary user | Russian Air Force |- ! Produced | 1969 - present |- ! Number built | 2,648 |-

The Mil Mi-24 (which is pronounced like "Meal Mee-24") is a very famous and powerful helicopter. It was designed in the Soviet Union (now Russia) by a company called Mil. People often call it the Hind, which is its NATO reporting name.

This helicopter is special because it can do two big jobs at once. It's a "gunship" or "attack helicopter," meaning it's built to fight and carry weapons. But it can also carry soldiers! Most other helicopters at the time could only do one of these jobs, not both.

What is a Helicopter Gunship?

A helicopter gunship is like a flying tank. It's designed to attack targets on the ground. The Mi-24 is known for being very strong and having lots of weapons. It can carry rockets, missiles, and powerful guns. This makes it a very scary sight for enemies.

A Helicopter That Carries Troops

Even though it's a fighting machine, the Mi-24 has a small cabin in the back. This space can carry up to eight soldiers. This means it can drop off troops right into a battle zone and then help protect them with its weapons. This ability to both fight and transport made it very useful in many conflicts.

History and Development

The first Mi-24 helicopter flew on September 19, 1969. It was built to be a fast and heavily armed helicopter for the Soviet military. Over the years, many different versions of the Mi-24 have been made, each with improvements. More than 2,600 of these helicopters have been built, and they are still being made today.

Who Uses the Mi-24?

The main user of the Mi-24 is the Russian Air Force. But this helicopter is so good that many other countries around the world use it too. It has been sold to over 50 different nations. This shows how reliable and effective the Mi-24 is. It has been used in many different conflicts and operations around the globe.

Images for kids

• 

  Mil Mi-24A

• 

  Russian Air Force Mil Mi-24P

• 

  Russian Air Force Mi-35М

• 

  Mi-24D cockpit

• 

  Mi-35M with the OPS-24N survey and sighting system together with the gyrostabilized OLS GOES-324

• 

  U.S. operated Mi-24P Hind-F

• 

  Mi-24 SuperHind, a modernized Hind by the South African firm ATE. At the Ysterplaat Airshow 2006.

• 

  Front view of a Soviet Mi-24 HIND E ground-attack helicopter

• 

  Soviet "Helicopter-tank" operation in Afghanistan

• 

  Mil Mi-24/25

• 

  Mi-24 during "Centre 2019" exercise

• 

  Two Mil Mi-35 Hind helicopters during a training sortie over southern Afghanistan, 4 October 2009. U.S. Airmen with the 438th Air Expeditionary Training Group.

• 

  An Iraqi Mil Mi-25, brought down during the Iran–Iraq War, on display at a military museum in Tehran.

• 

  An Iraqi Mi-25 Hind-D, captured during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

• 

  Macedonian Mi-24V

• 

  An Afghan Air Force Mi-35 over Kandahar, 2009

• 

  Brazilian Air Force Mi-35M

• 

  A Bulgarian Air Force Mi-24 in flight

• 

  A Czech Air Force Mi-24

• 

  Georgian Air Force Mi-24

• 

  Hungarian Mi-24

• 

  Indonesian Army Mi-35P

• 

  Peruvian Air Force Mi-25D

• 

  A Russian Air Force Mil Mi-35P

• 

  Serbian Mil Mi-35M during Sadejstvo 2020 military exercise

• 

  A Ukrainian Mi-24

• 

  Vietnam People's Air Force Mi-24

• 

  Cabin door to the rear troop-utility compartment

• 

  Possible armament configuration on Mi-24W

See also

In Spanish: Mil Mi-24 para niños