Alexander Mladenov describes the genesis birth and introduction into service of theRussian Air Force's new generation attack helicopter, the Mil Mi-28N Night Hunter

ROTARYRUSSIAN•

RUSSIA'S MIL Mi-28N Night Hunter,

optimised for both day and night attack, is

portrayed by its makers as being endowed with

war-fighting capabilities much greater than thoseof its predecessors, the 19605 vintage Mi-24 ­

which it is scheduled to replace - and its direct

predecessor, the Mi-28A from the 19805. The

Russian Air Force's (RuAF) new rotary-wing

attack platform is designed to provide good

survivability on the battlefield. more thanadequate firepower and precise aiming and

ta geting capablht aR."

In April 2009. after almost three decades

of development and testing, the first RuAF,Army Aviation Branch combat unit, the 487th

Independent Helicopter Regiment (IRH) stationed

in the southern city of Budyonnovsk, not far from

the disputed territory of the North Caucasus,took delivery of its initial batch of four Mi-28Ns.

Some 15 months earlier, on January 23, 2008, the

first two Night Hunters destined for the RuAFwere handed over to the Ministry of Defence

and RuAF representatives in a ceremony at the

{lostvertol helicopter plant in Rostov on Don

These two helicopters were destined for field

testing and evaluation at the RuAF helicopterrotary-wing combat employment and training

centre at Torzhok air base's 344th Army Aviation

Conversion Training and Combat Employment

Centre. By early May 2009, no fewer than 17Night Hunters were reported to have rolled

off the assembly line at Rostvertol and it was

publicly announced by Russian helicopterindustry officials that by 2009-2011, the Mi-28N

would be ntroduced into sefVlce with two RuAF

helicopter regimen each of hlCh -w Id t ke

98 #280 JULY 2011_./1#0 'iUCWTl-Il.V.OJIol

on strength one fully-equipped attack squadroncomprising 18 aircraft. By 2015, no fewer than

67 Mi-28Ns are planned to be on RuAF strength,at a procurement rate of 10 units a year. In the

long term, Night Hunter numbers may reach as

many as 300 but this depends, of course, uponthe availability of funds post 2012. Observers

of the Mi-28N's progress over the years may be

surprised at the success of the Night Hunter afterits troubled past.

Night Hunter - 30 Year in the MakingThe rivalry between the Mil and Kamov

design houses over the development of a newgeneration of attack helicopter to replace the

omnipresent Mi-24 dates back to the late 1970s.It was expected that one of two competing ..

'The new generation attackhelicopter was viewed asRussia's response to theBoeing AH-64D LongbowApache. '

.280 JULY 2011W,W;) ~UstolClNTl1Ly (;(J,l 99

Russian Rotary Night Hunter

•

In October 2008 Maj Gen Viktor Ivane

the RuAF's Army Aviation Department Chi

mentioned in the Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Stcnewspaper, the official publication for the Russi.

armed forces, that the first four Mi-28Ns takl

on strength by the RuAF were being used at tITorzhok test centre in field evaluation trials wi

regard to the integration of the avionics suite ardefensive aids sub-system (DASS). It is notewortl

that all Night Hunters taken on strength by tl

RuAF lack the mast-mounted radar as well as sonDASS components although the helicopters a

said to have provision for installation of the'systems in the future. It was hinted that deliveril

of Mi-28N's fully equipped with the mast-mounte

radar, DASS and helmet-mounted targetinsystem, (the so-called Stage Two), wer.e schedule

to commence when development of thos

systems was complete, most likely somewher

between 2012 and 2015. Other planned upgradEwere rumoured to be planned to introduc

significant changes to the mission avionics suitas well as integrating new targeting systems.

has been hinted that new weapons are planne(

including the Khrizantema ATGM featuring aactive millimetric radar seeker designed for a

weather operation. Another derivative, with tWIcontrols to be used for conversion training, is als­

believed to be in development.

Mission Avionics OutfitThe Mi-28N introduced an all-digital BREO-28~

integrated avionics suite with night-vision aneall-weather capability. Instead of the analogu~

instrumentation found in the cockpits of bottthe Mi-24 and Mi-28A, the Mi-28N boasts NVG

friendly cockpits outfitted with a total of six LCe

multifunctional displays (three in each cockpitproviding flight and navigation information

airframe/engine system data, weapon station~

status and targeting information.The OPS-28 Tor electro-optical sensor is the

primary clear-weather targeting sensor

integrating a three-channel sensor package ma common gyro-stabilised rotating platform

Its design layout follows the classic gunshipconfiguration - a two-man crew in tandem

cockpits. The gunner sits in the front cockpit and

the pilotlcommander sits behind, on an elevated

seat; in contrast to the Mi-24, only the pilot ofthe Mi-28N has flight controls and there is no

meaningful facility to carry passengers except

in emergencies; its design features sufficientfree space inside the avionics compartment to

squeeze in two or three people for recoveryof crews of other downed helicopters on the

battlefield. The helicopter is prOVided with afive-blade main rotor and low-noise X-shaped tail

rotor. In the early manifestations of the type, a

three-bladed design was used.The first development Mi-28N, vehicle OP-1,

serial '014') was built by Mil in its experimental

plant at Panki near Moscow between 1994

and 1995 and took to the air for the first timein November 1996, with its avionics suite still

incomplete. The second Mi-28N developmentaircraft (vehicle OP-2, which wears the serial '02')

flew for the first time on March 25, 2004. The first

of three initial production Mi-28Ns ordered bythe Russian MoD (vehicle 01-01 which wears the

serial '32') made its first flight on 25 January 2005,

while the defence budget for the follOWing yearallocated funding for construction of as many as

seven further Night Hunters.In March 2006, the Mi-28N's joint testing team

commenced the type's test and evaluation

programme at the RuAF's base in Torzhok and by

April 2007 as many as five Mi-28Ns were engagedin the process including two development

vehicles - OP-1 and OP-2 - plus three pre­

production examples. In August 2007, two morepre-production examples joined the trials and

the next month the Russian MoD finally approvedcommencement of full-rate production at

Rostvertol. In June 2009 Mil sources announced

that 12 Night Hunters had been delivered tothe RuAF, and in 2009 alone 10 helicopters were

produced at Rostvertol; the total number ofMi-28Ns to be delivered under the existing State

Order should reach 47 units by 2012.

• 280 JULY 2011'M'M'AlRfORCE.SMONT.....y,COM100

designs would be the Soviet response to

America's McDonnell Douglas AH-64A Apache.

Both new designs, known as the Mi-28A and

Ka·SO, made their maiden flights in 1982 and

underwent protracted and rigorous comparative

trials in 1985·1986. Eventually, the single-seat,

co-axial rotor Ka-50 emerged as the winner

of the competition and was approved for

mass production by the Soviet government in

December 1987.

Although the Mil Design Bureau had lost the

first round of the competition, it continued with

development efforts, albeit at a slower pace. Inthe early 19905, it launched a new and much

more sophisticated day/night-capable derivativeof the Mi-28A as a company-funded effort. In the

event, the decision to go ahead was shown to be

wise since procurement of the day-only capable

Ka-50 has failed to continue as expected. In thefirst part of the new millennium, the Russian MoD

outlined its requirements for a new generation

of day/night-capable attack helicopters to equipits Army Aviation Branch which had become part

of the RuAF on January 1, 2003. This time the

new generation attack helicopter was viewed asRussia's response to the Boeing AH-64D longbow

Apache.On this occasion head-to-head competition

between the Mil and Kamov design bureaux was

avoided. Colonel General Vladimir Mikhailov,RuAF Commander-in-Chief, announced to the

world's press in August 2003 that both theMi-28N and Ka-S2 had been selected for front-line

service, with the former to gradually replace the

worn-out Mi-24 fleet, while the Ka-52 would be

produced in limited numbers for use by SpecialOperation Forces only.

Development Phas8The Night Hunter is purposely designed foranti-armour warfare and the destruction of

well-defended and hardened targets, as well as

performing aerial mine laying, suppression ofarea targets and the destruction of small sea and

river vessels and all sorts of low-level aircraft.

The second development vehicle for the !tt/-2IN,aircraftOP·2, wearing the serial '02' is captured by thecamero carrying a war load ofeight Ataka·VATGMs onthe starboard out.r pylon as well as a BBV-20 20-roundpock for BOmm rockets on the inner pylon. Rosrvl'nO

-

1#280 .JULY 2011WHN.AJRFCflJ. ~COM

approach the target area at high speed at treetop

height, then pop up to acquire the target and fire

the weapons in a shallow dive.

To achieve increased survivability of both

airframe and its crew, the design team took into

consideration knowledge acquired through hard­

learned lessons learned during Soviet operations

with the Mi-24 in Afghanistan during the 1980s.

Protection is mainly achieved through extensive

armouring of the airframe's most vulnerable

areas to allow, at least in theory, the Night Hunter

to soak up a much heavier punishment in combat

than its predecessor was capable of.

Crew members are provided with a new

technology rescue system including Zvezda

Pamir-K energy-absorbing seats combined

with energy-attenuating undercarriage and

jettisonable cockpit doors, main rotor blades and

stub wings. This seat/undercarriage combination

enables the pilot and the gunner to survive

crash landings with a descent rate of up to 12m/s

(40ft/s); impact forces are reduced from 60-s8g to

'only' 12g. Night Hunter's crew rescue system, if

activated above 330ft (100m), first jettisons the

main rotor blades, stub wings and the cockpit

doors, and then, the crew members, who are

prOVided with parachutes, bail out. Inflatable

bladders, designed to prevent contact with the

main undercarriage units or the gun turret, are

incorporated into the design to ensure a safe

exit. In the event that the system is activated

below 330ft (100m), the crew members' seat belts

are automatically fastened and the helicoptel

performs a crash landing.

The second production standard of the

helicopter. fielded after 2010, was planned to

introduce a DASS with its active countermeasures

component comprising six UV·26 36-round chaff!

flare dispensers for ejecting 16-mm chaff and

flares cartridges housed in the wingtip pods.

The passive components of the Mi-28N's DASS

comprise the LlsO Pastel radar warning system,

L138 Mak missile warning receiver and Ll40 Otklik

laser warning sensors as well as engine infrared

suppressors which could the helicopter's thermal

signature by a factor of 2.2 in a bid to decrease

the acquisition range of heat-seeking air-to-air

and surface-to-air missiles. ..

Survivability featuresUnlike the Western anti-armour helicopter

employment doctrine, which predominantly

relies upon ambush tactics, the Mi-28N, just

as its predecessor the Mi-24, is designed to

be employed much more like a modern-day

equivalent of the World War Two Ilyushin 11-2

Shturmovik low-level armoured attack aircraft.

Russian modus operandi calls for the aircraft to

In its initial version the N025 mast-mounted

radar developed by the Ryazan-based GPRZ

Company is claimed to be capable of searching

a gO-degree sector only, with a total search

area of 154 sq mites (400sq km) and a scan cycle

completion time of 1.2 seconds. The underlying

terrain image can be used by the crew for rapid

cueing of the Tor optronic sensor package

towards a selected target thus shortening the

target search-and-acquisition cycle. In addition,

the processed radar picture can be used as a

means of distributing targeting information

among a group of helicopters via a secure data­

link. There is also a Moving Target Indicator (MTI)

mode for detecting moving targets.

This aspect provides a good view to the Mi-2BN's nose, featuring: (from the top down) the 'pimple' antennaused for the guidance of the 9Mf2D Atoka-Vmissile, the GOES-S2D payload used for night flying, the Tor-N target­ing sensor housed in a drum-shaped turret with two optically flat windows. On the bottom is the mass;n turretcontaining the Shipunov 2A42 JOmm connon. Alexander MladenavB The 2A42 gun has a 900rpm rapid rate offire (the slow rate is 200-JOOrpm) andsingle shots can also befired in, as seen here during ground trials. lIverrcllSSok/,

The Mi·28N will be employed on the battlefield in pairs or four-ship formations for CAS andanti-tank missions.

under the nose. Tor's development, however,

is reported to have been a difficult undertaking

because of both the technological complexity of

the system and difficulties in finding sufficient

funding. The drum-shaped turret can move 110

degrees left and right, 13 degrees up and 40

degrees down; it has two optically flat windows

comprising a direct-optics channel, a TV-camera

channel and a FUR channel as well as a laser

rangefinder. The optical and IR channels feature

two fixed Field of View (FoV) positions - with 3x

and 8x zoom respectively, while the TV-channel

is provided with a lOx zoom capability. No

performance data for the Tor's sensors has been

publicly revealed so far. Optimised for low-flying

at night, the Mi-28N achieves this thanks to the

GOES-s20 electro optical suite supplied by Perm­

based UOMZ. Used only for navigation purposes,

the kit integrates a FUR and low-level TV camera,

housed under the 'pimple' missile guidance

radome in the nose.

Current plans call for both the pilot and the

co-pilot/gunner to be equipped with a helmet­

mounted-sighting system on final production

standard aircraft.

The first development vehicle olthe Mi-l8N programme, aircrah OP*1, seen In flight in the vicinity afMoscow where the Mil MHP test bose is located. ()Pf(0b01 'p, ~m VloA~x OIitt M

Russian Rotary Night Hunter

Guns, rockets, missiles and bombletsThe Mi-2BN's main weapon is the supersonic

semi~automaticcommand line-ot-sight 9M120V

Ataka-V anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) with

a maximum range of 3.13nm (S.8km). Up to

16 rounds can be carried on two under-wing

launchers. but usually eight are carried in two

fouHound units. The Ataka-V has a tandemwarhead specially designed for countering the

explosive armour protection of modern mainbattle tanks (MBTs); the first warhead reacts tothe outside layer of armour and clears a path for

the second charge to facilitate the penetrationof the interior of the vehicle. There is also an

option for the Mi-28N to use the extended­

range Ataka·D, which has a maximum range of

5.5nm (10km) enabling the crew to pick out and

destroy targets at relatively long distance, safe

from engagement by most battlefield air-defence

weapons.

The Mi-28N's Shipunov 2A42 30mm gun

with a maximum rate of fire of 900rpm was

originally developed as an infantry weapon and

is borrowed from the BMP-l infantry fighting

vehicle. This weapon was preferred to purpose­

designed aircraft guns for both the Mi-28N

and Ka-SO/S2 attack helicopters because the

weapon is widely renowned for its reliability;

it is little affected by dirt, dust and sand and

has an excellent ballistic performance. Its main

drawback is its higher weight when compared

to a weapon purposely designed for use on a

helicopter. It is believed to weigh as much as the

twin·barrel GSh-30-2 installed on the Mi-24P. The

nose-mounted NPPU-28 gun turret can rotate

110<- left and right, 13~ up and 40'" down and is

provided with twin-axis stabilisation. Steering

and firing of the gun uses the Tor targeting

system, but it can also be fired by the pilot,

rather than the gunner, when locked in bore­

sight position. Second generation Mi-28Ns will

introduce the capability of slaving the turret to

By April2007, as many as live Mi-2BNs werereported to have been engaged In the type's testingand evaluation effort - among these were the twodevelopment vehicles OP-Tand OP-2 and the three ini­tial production examp'.s. RcmverfOIlS SoIdor'

the pilot's/gunner's line of sight. using a helmet­

mounted sight.

Unguided weapons can be carried on four

pylons under the stub-wings (each with a

capacity of t,OS81b {480kgll and include 80mm

5-8 rockets fired from B8V-20 20 round pods,

5-13 122mm rockets fired from five-round B13

pods or S-24 240mm rockets (two each carried

on the inner pylons). In addition, the very precise

UPK·23-250 gun pods with GSh-23 23mm twin­

barrel guns and 250 rounds can be carried in

two pods carried on the inner pylons. Other

weapon options include KMGU-2 bomblet/mine

dispenser pods and the 9M39 Igla-V air-to-air

missile, designed for anti-helicopter and anti-UAV

operations; up to eight can be carried on four

Strelets twin missile launcher units.

Some Russian helicopter experts maintained

that in real-world combat operations the Mi-28N

would be limited to operating in a single role

only, either anti-tank or close air support (CAS)

because of a perceived limited combat load.

However, in the former role with 2,6401b (l,200kg)

of fuel onboard, the Night Hunter can operate

with a full load of 16 Ataka-V missiles and 150­

250 rounds for the 2A42 cannon, while when

employed for CAS, a typical combat load includes

two 20-round rocket packs for firing 80mm

rockets, between 2 and 4 ATGMs and 150 rounds

for the gun.

po xpectatlonsThe Mi-28N's entry into service with the

RuAF's Army Aviation branch in early 2008

had a positive effect on its export potential.

The Night Hunter is now cleared for export

through Rosoboronexport, Russia's defence

export agency. In 2008, Rostvertol's Director

General, Boris Slusar hinted to the media that

India, Algeria and China were being viewed as

the most likely initial export customers for the

Night Hunter, but in the event, just as happenpd

with the enhanced MI-3SM attack helicopter

Venezuela has emerged as the type's most

likely first export customer During a visit to

Rostvertol in June 2007, Venezuelan President

Hugo Chavez is said to have expressed a strong

interest in obtaining the export+configured

Mi-28NEh derivative for his country's Aviaci6n

Militar Nacional Bolivariana (Venezuelan Military

Aviation). In discussions with the press during

the Mi-28N's handover ceremony in January 2008

Rostvertol's 51usar maintained his belief that a

contract with Venezuela could be concluded

by around mid-2009. No such order has been

confirmed, although rumours persist of a

requirement for ten to twelve machines to~

replace the nation's ageing OV-10 Broncos. ~

02 #280 .JULY 2011_iO#IiH'EI!::.~Y JoI