Mi-28N "Night Hunter" (NATO codification Havoc, "Ravager") is a Russian attack helicopter manufactured by PJSC "Rostvertol", which is part of the "Russian Helicopters" holding. It is a modern combat helicopter, the main purpose of which is to search for and destroy tanks, armored and unarmored enemy equipment, as well as its infantry on the battlefield, in addition, it can hit low-speed air targets. The helicopter can be used during the day and at night both in simple and in difficult weather conditions.
The Mi-28N was officially adopted by the Russian Ministry of Defense and is actively supplied to the troops. According to information for 2017, the Russian Air Force has more than 90 Mi-28N helicopters. The combat vehicle is also in demand in the international market. At least 15 Mi-28NE helicopters are in service with the Iraqi army, supply of attack helicopters to Algeria, which in March 2014 signed a contract for the supply of 42 Mi-28NE helicopters. Helicopters have already taken part in hostilities, Russian helicopters were used against terrorists, being part of the Russian Air Force Aviation Group in Syria, Iraqi helicopters were used in battles with terrorists of the "Islamic State" (IS, a terrorist organization, banned in Russia) on the territory of Iraq, in particular enough were widely used during the Fatah operation (the offensive on Mosul).
The Mi-28 attack helicopter made its first flight 35 years ago, on November 10, 1982. Subsequently, the Mi-28N helicopter was created at its base, which was put into service in 2009. Its serial production began in Russia in 2006 in Rostov-on-Don at the PJSC Rostvertol plant. According to the state armament program until 2020, the Russian army should receive about 200 Mi-28N helicopters.
Aerobatic group "Berkuts" on Mi-28N
The Mi-28 helicopter is distinguished by its outstanding flight performance. He is able to perform such aerobatics as: Nesterov's loop, roll, Immelman's coup, sideward flight, backward flight. It is no coincidence that since 2012, Mi-28N helicopters have been used by the Berkuts aerobatic team of the Russian Air Force; the group has been flying on six combat helicopters of this type.
The history of the creation of this amazing helicopter dates back to 1976, when the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a resolution to start work on a new attack helicopter, which in terms of its combat effectiveness would be able to surpass the Soviet Mi-24 and the American Apache in service. The leading design bureaus of the country - Kamova (Ka-50 Black Shark helicopter) and Mila (Mi-28 helicopter, General Designer Mark Weinberg) presented their competitive works. Unlike the Ka-50, the Mil helicopter was developed in accordance with the traditional concept of a two-seater single-rotor machine with a tail rotor. At the same time, there was a division of functions between the crew members of the attack helicopter: the navigator-operator and the pilot.
Hero of the Soviet Union test pilot Gurgen Karapetyan, who over the years of his work mastered 39 types of helicopters, gliders and airplanes, and taking into account their modifications - more than a hundred different aircraft, told TASS journalists about the interesting facts of the appearance of the helicopter and the first tests of the Mi-28. In total, he spent more than 5500 hours in the air, flew on all types of helicopters created by the Mil Design Bureau, including the attack Mi-28. It was Mil OKB test pilot Gurgen Karapetyan and test navigator Viktor Tsygankov who first lifted a new experimental helicopter into the air on November 10, 1982.
Gurgen Karapetyan recalls: “On that day, unfortunately, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev died. But despite this, at 11 o'clock in the morning, the helicopter hovered. However, already at 12 o'clock, flights were banned. During the first flight, we took off, hung in the air for 5 minutes. We climbed first one meter, then five meters, made a left-right, forward-backward movement, made turns with a low angular velocity, and then landed. According to the memoirs of the test pilot, this flight did not leave particularly vivid impressions. At the same time, the helicopter was quite stable and very sensitive in control. Later, in November-December 1982, during tests, the pilots reached a speed of 60 km / h. After the first flights, all the materials on them and the design materials of the Mil Design Bureau were submitted to the Council of the Ministry of Aviation Industry of the USSR, after which approval was obtained to continue the tests.
It should be noted that at that time the Mi-28 was seriously competing with the Kamov product. The Ka-50 helicopter took off in June 1982, and the Mi-28 took off only in November. As Gurgen Karapetyan recalls, before the first flight, the transmission was destroyed. Therefore, up to November, the design bureau carried out various improvements, and only at the end of autumn the helicopter was able to perform the first hover. By that time, the Kamovites were able to go far ahead, so Mil KB had to think about how to catch up.
A series of preliminary tests of the new Mi-28 attack helicopter lasted from 1982 to 1985, they went in parallel with the tests of the Ka-50 helicopter. Ultimately, the Ministry of Defense decided that Kamov's firm won the competition, but Mil Design Bureau did not agree with this decision, realizing perfectly well that it is easy to fly in a single car, but it is already more difficult to fight effectively. According to Karapetyan's recollections, tests of the Ka-50 helicopter at the Gorokhovets test site were carried out exactly the same as with the Mi-28. At the same time, there was such a nuance: once military crews flew simultaneously on the Ka-50 and Mi-28. Their task was 25 targets. The crew on the Mi-28 helicopter detected all targets, and only one on the Ka-50.
Mi-28A
The developers of the new Mi-28 attack helicopter, as well as the test pilots of the Mil Design Bureau, convinced the military leadership of the USSR that “a pilot at extremely low flight altitudes is not able to perform all functions at once: to fly a helicopter, search for targets, bend around the terrain and obstacles. and hit targets. Gurgen Karapetyan explains that at an altitude of 5-15 meters, one pilot is not able to perform these tasks, this is possible at an altitude of 30-50 meters, but then the probability of his defeat rises to 95%.
Gurgen Karapetyan recalled another incident that happened during his stay in Afghanistan in 1980 together with the general designer of the Mil Design Bureau. Then, at an altitude of 50 meters, a Mi-24 combat helicopter was shot down. “Either a very good sniper was caught there, or a stray bullet hit the pilot in the head. But the co-pilot did not have time to react and from a height of 50 meters the Mi-24 fell and crashed,”says the test pilot. After returning to Moscow, the design of the new Mi-28 helicopter underwent appropriate modifications, including changes in the geometry of the cockpit. At the same time, Karapetyan turned to the general designer with a proposal to book the entire helicopter cabin: not only its lower part, but also the glass. Later tests, in which the cockpit of a Mi-28 helicopter was fired from a 20-mm Vulcan aircraft cannon (NATO's main cannon), demonstrated excellent protection results.
The concept of creating a two-seater combat vehicle was also confirmed, this approach was absolutely correct. At that time, the Americans had a similar situation, recalls the test pilot of the Mil Design Bureau - everywhere in the press there were materials in favor of the single-seat concept of an attack helicopter. Moreover, many articles were published for meetings of the state commission in the USSR, about a month or two before its holding. All this influenced the course of work. Only after testing at Sikorsky's firm in 1989 in the United States did they write that in order to make an attack helicopter a single-seat one, it was necessary to automate 36 of its systems, and the cost of such automation was “golden”.
According to Karapetyan, in the process of creating a new helicopter, the designers introduced various solutions and concepts designed to improve ergonomics. As an example, the test pilot notes: to start the engine, the Mi-24 had to perform 144 operations, while the new Mi-28 - only 18. The difference was significant. A large number of improvements were introduced on the Mi-28, which were going to be implemented on the Mi-24, but for one reason or another, they were never implemented. For example, the Mi-24 lacked night vision systems, while the Mi-28 became a round-the-clock, all-weather combat helicopter. At the same time, it is much more difficult to detect the helicopter itself at night than during the daytime.
The international debut of the Mi-28A helicopter took place in 1989. On June 8, the car was first demonstrated at the French air show in Le Bourget. The Soviet attack helicopter became a real star of the exhibition. At the same time, the first reaction of foreigners, according to Karapetyan's recollections, was the following: "Ay, a copy of American Apache!" He himself explained that outwardly the machines are similar, but it is wrong to talk about copying, just people in the USSR and the USA, when developing a combat vehicle, thought in approximately the same direction. At the same time, when the foreigners learned about the solutions and concepts that were laid down in the Mi-28, they were really shocked. From the point of view of Karapetyan in terms of combat survivability, Apache and Mi-28 are completely different machines and the comparison here is not in favor of the American. In the person of the Mi-28, our army received a very good helicopter, which in terms of its efficiency and combat survivability is now one of the best in the world, summed up the honored test pilot.
Currently, the development process of the Mi-28 combat helicopter continues. On October 12, 2016, the Mi-28NM helicopter, which is a modernized version of the Mi-28N helicopter, took to the skies for the first time. Unlike the usual "Night Hunter", in which the navigator-operator sits in the front cockpit and is limited in the possibilities of piloting a combat vehicle, the new helicopter has full control in both cockpits. The Mi-28NM helicopter received an overhead radar and a new sighting, flight and navigation system, and an improved radar station. It is assumed that the first batch of such helicopters may enter the troops as early as 2018.
Mi-28NM
Work on the creation of the Mi-28NM attack helicopter (product 296) started in 2009 as part of the Avangard-3 R&D project. The main task of the work was to modernize the existing Mi-28N "Night Hunter" helicopter using new components, assemblies and systems. The combat, flight and operational qualities of the helicopter were planned to be improved by replacing a number of components. Also, part of the work on the project was associated with the simplification of the production of equipment due to the abandonment of components, the supply of which may be associated with the occurrence of any problems.
When creating the upgraded Mi-28N combat helicopter, the designers fully took into account the experience of developing a combat training version of the Mi-28UB: a second control set was placed in the front cockpit of the upgraded helicopter. In addition to this, the cockpit has also undergone modernization: the pilot-operator and the commander will now receive information outside the cockpit about the operation of all systems of the vehicle and about the environment in a more accessible form and in a larger volume. This is intended to increase the situational awareness of the combat vehicle's crew, which will facilitate interaction and will help to increase the speed of decision-making, especially in a difficult combat situation. Also, a new sighting, flight and navigation complex appeared on the helicopter, which received modern computing facilities of increased speed. The cockpit of the Mi-28NM helicopter is reliably armored, which should provide effective protection against armor-piercing bullets and projectiles up to and including 20 mm caliber.
The improved over-sleeve radar and enhanced capabilities in the use of modern high-precision weapons, including homing missiles, are also the hallmarks of the Mi-28NM helicopter. The use of high-precision weapons can significantly reduce the time an attack helicopter spends in potentially dangerous situations. The advantages of the upgraded vehicle include good resistance to combat damage. This is achieved through the use of new design solutions and the latest materials. The design of the fuel system of the Mi-28NM helicopter excludes the possibility of an explosion or ignition of fuel in the tanks, and the rotor blades were made of composite materials. The blades allow you to safely complete the flight even if they are hit by shells of 20-30 mm caliber.
Presentation of Mi-28UB combat training helicopters from the first batch. Rostov-on-Don, 19.10.2017 (c) Evgeny Baranov / Russian Helicopters JSC
In addition to the Mi-28NM, another new modification was created - the Mi-28UB, a combat training helicopter with a dual control set and a failure simulation panel, which retained all the functionality of an attack helicopter. The main difference between this model lies in the presence of a dual control system, which allows you to pilot a combat vehicle both from the cockpit and from the operator's cabin. This creates an opportunity for more effective education and training of military pilots who need the practice of raiding the "Night Hunters". Also, in combat conditions in case of possible abnormal situations on board, the second crew member will also be able to take control of the helicopter. The failure simulation console installed on the Mi-28UB allows the trained pilot to simulate various options for equipment failure in flight, which improves the trainee's training in the moments of crisis situations, and this, in the event of real malfunctions or accidents, will help save his life.
According to Vadim Barannikov, First Deputy Managing Director of the Rostvertol Aviation Plant, within the framework of a three-year contract signed with the Russian Ministry of Defense for three years, starting in 2017, the military will receive up to 10 Mi-28UB combat training helicopters (thus, the army will be replenished with at least 30 such machines). These helicopters have already passed the entire range of factory tests. As the Ministry of Defense clarified, at the beginning of November 2017, the first two Mi-28UB helicopters with dual control were accepted into the army, and in the near future these machines will arrive at the 344th Army Aviation Center in Torzhok. According to the portal Aircraftcompare.com, the cost of one Mi-28UB is slightly higher than the cost of the Mi-28N and ranges from $ 16.8 to $ 18 million.
Test pilot Gurgen Karapetyan believes that the fact that the domestic combat helicopter Mi-28, according to NATO codification, was nicknamed "The Ravager" at one time, is very accurate. The experience of the combat use of this combat vehicle in Syria demonstrates that the epithet chosen by the military of the North Atlantic Alliance is absolutely correct.
