Detailled walkaround by a Hind-D owner in Texas. Found it very interesting to see.
Mi-24 Hind-D walkaround
- Thread starter Jetronic
- Start date
Forgot to add, he was talking about Afghanistan and I remembered reading about that.
The passenger compartment was used to carry reloads for the weapons, so they would expend the ammo, land, reload and go again... Not sure it's true but remember reading that.
The passenger compartment was used to carry reloads for the weapons, so they would expend the ammo, land, reload and go again... Not sure it's true but remember reading that.
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- Jun 2, 2002
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hah, I hadn't thought of those things in 35 years. Back in my old army days I knew the placement of every "Hip" (Mi-17) and "Hind" (Mi-24) in eastern Europe. Most were in the satellite Soviet states.
It's great that somebody has a Mi-24 in Texas. Those things were amazing.
It's great that somebody has a Mi-24 in Texas. Those things were amazing.
Not sure if this was mentioned in that hour plus.
no nothing was mentioned about that.
the bulgarians seems to have sold him a complete Hind, minus the gun (it's a fake, but he's sourced a real one) and the IFF system. the rocket pods could be replicas aswell.
the bulgarians seems to have sold him a complete Hind, minus the gun (it's a fake, but he's sourced a real one) and the IFF system. the rocket pods could be replicas aswell.
Since I'm likely the only person on this board who went to the Kremenchug College for maintenance on the Mi-8MTV-5 / Mi-17V5 and worked on them in Afghanistan, and trained Afghan Military on their maintenance, and could throw a rock and hit Aghanistan's MI-24s from my office....
I can confidently say: These things are junk and they suck to maintain.
Look cool though.
I can confidently say: These things are junk and they suck to maintain.
Look cool though.
Not trying to get into the politics of it, but weren't there complaints by some that the Blackhawks that the Afghans ended up getting required constant support from the manufacturer? I heard that the Russian made helicopters that they wanted wouldn't necessarily need manufacturer's support, although (as you say) they suck to maintain.
I was not involved with the Blackhawks. I never actually saw one delivered but from what I understood, they were as basic as possible.
The Blackhawks by all means should have been easier to keep flying, but in Afghanistan trying to teach new concepts and methods is more difficult than you can imagine. There is a general stubbornness and resistance to change that makes the Mi-17 the better choice in practice.
Even though it takes twice as many people twice as long to keep a fleet of Mi-17s in the air, it is easy to teach someone to pump a grease gun.
I also think that the Afghan government wanted equipment that they could easily sell once we left, but that's another story.
Still - I've heard that without support from Sikorsky and the US, a Blackhawk is pretty useless after a few weeks. But there seems to be a big international market in parts for all these Russian helicopters and as you note it just takes more work.
That's definitely a concern.
Makes one wonder if there is a secret remote kill switch installed on those Turkish F16's. One would hope given how tenuous our alliance is these days.
Well you need parts no matter what you're flying. We would rather the parts come from the US instead of Ukraine for a number of reasons.
Don't we still have nukes at Incirlik?
China has extensive knowledge of the blackhawk and has operated the S70 since the 80s. They’ve continued to develop it and know it’s a much better platform than the old Mi-8 or Dolphin.
The question is really if the taliban are willing to pay for the capability to keep the dozen or so blackhawks they have operational. I certainly would.
The question is really if the taliban are willing to pay for the capability to keep the dozen or so blackhawks they have operational. I certainly would.
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It's a transport helicopter, and from what I heard any that were given to the Afghans were pretty much stripped of any of the advanced stuff that the US would insist on having for its own use. A lot of vehicles and aircraft were sabotaged on the way out. I guess they could try selling them for parts though. Maybe get creative with what to do with all that stuff, like Cubans keeping their 60+ year old American cars running with creative reuse of normally incompatible parts.
Besides, whatever does fly now probably won’t be doing so in a few months, said an Afghan air force colonel who spoke on condition of anonymity because he recently escaped the country and still has family in Afghanistan. Even when the Afghan army existed, he said, it had no way of maintaining the aircraft without contractors and a steady pipeline of spare parts; bigger repairs required the aircraft to be taken to U.S. bases in the United Arab Emirates or Qatar.
“These aircraft aren’t flyable,” he said. “I’m happy they’ll try to fly them. They’ll kill a lot of Taliban when they do.”
Last I heard we did.
