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Modern Russian Military Helicopters: Mi-8 Hip, Mi-24 Hind, Mi-28 Havoc, Ka-52 Alligator and Mi-26 Halo. Soviet and Russian Gunships, Attack Helicopter
Paperback
Series: Military Helicopters of the World, Book 2
AviationAir CombatRussian History
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jul 6 2026
Pages: 210
Weight: 0.63
Height: 0.44 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Russia builds some of the most feared combat helicopters on earth, and this is the book that explains how, and how they have really fared in war. From the wreckage of the Soviet collapse to the largest helicopter war since Vietnam, the Russian rotary-wing force has been built, nearly lost, and tested in combat as no other fleet of our time. This comprehensive guide covers every major Soviet and Russian military helicopter from the Cold War to the war in Ukraine, with full specifications, combat analysis, and the industrial story behind Mil, Kamov, and the rise and reckoning of Russian air power.
Each chapter combines technical depth with hard-won strategic context: the mountains of Afghanistan where the Hind learned to fight and the Stinger taught it fear, the rubble of Chechnya, the proving ground of Syria, and the catastrophe at Hostomel, and the sixty-year rivalry between Mil's single rotor and Kamov's tail-less coaxial that runs through every machine in these pages.
Whether you are a military aviation enthusiast, a defense analyst, or simply fascinated by the aircraft fighting the war reshaping Europe, this book has everything you need.
Inside this book, you'll discover:- Mi-8 and Mi-17 Hip: the most-produced helicopter in history and the spine of Russian air mobility: the workhorse that carries the troops, hauls the cargo, and refused to die across every war Moscow has fought.
- Mi-24 and Mi-35 Hind: the flying tank that is gunship and troop carrier at once: forged in Afghanistan, and the only helicopter ever to fight sustained helicopter-versus-helicopter duels.
- Mi-28 Night Hunter: how the design that lost the great 1986 fly-off was fielded anyway, and how the modernized Mi-28NM and its fire-and-forget LMUR missile finally made the name mean something.
- Ka-50 and Ka-52 Alligator: Kamov's audacious coaxial gamble: no tail rotor, an ejection seat no other gunship carries, and the spearhead (and most heavily lost) Russian attack helicopter of the Ukraine war.
- Mi-26 Halo: the largest and most powerful helicopter ever to enter service, able to lift twenty tonnes and recover other helicopters slung beneath it, and why Russia can no longer quite build it.
- The Naval Kamovs and the Light Fleet: the Ka-27 family that hunts submarines and watches the sky, the late Mi-38, and Russia's three-decade struggle to field a competitive light helicopter.
- The Arsenal: from the wire-guided Shturm and Ataka to the supersonic Vikhr and the fire-and-forget LMUR: the long, costly precision turn of the Russian gunship.
- The Engine Rupture: how nearly the whole fleet was powered by engines built in Ukraine, at Motor Sich, and how the 2014 break nearly grounded Russian air power.
- Trial by Fire: Ukraine: the Hostomel disaster on the first morning, the staggering attrition of the Ka-52 fleet to MANPADS and cheap FPV drones, and the brutal adaptation that followed.
- What Comes Next: the unresolved sixty-year coaxial argument, the high-speed helicopter that never came, and whether the crewed attack helicopter has any future in a sky full of drones.
Every aircraft chapter includes a Fast Facts panel with full specifications, production numbers, operators, and records (plus three facts most readers will not know) and opens with a dramatic real-world vignette that puts you inside the moment before the analysis begins.
Thoroughly researched from open-source technical literature, verified loss-tracking, international arms-trade data, and defense reporting. All information is presented for educational and historical purposes.
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