Photo: Petr Soukop
HISTORY
The chopper number 0836 demonstrates the form of the final supply during the existence of the socialist Czechoslovakia. On the frame of the windshield of the WSO’s
cockpit there is the trapezoidal antenna of the 62-01 Parol system and the bulky covers of the L-006 Beryozka system are already moved behind the rear cockpit.
equipment had to be added to ensure
at least very basic “westernalization”.
The GPS system, digital feet-calibrated
altimeter and western-standard transponder were added. The GPS antenna
was mounted on the frame of the
windshield of the WSO’s cockpit and the
white fin-shaped antennae of the APX-100
transponder were placed behind the front
wheel bay and on the top of the tail boom.
Stealth Hind
The Hind E No. 0837 was selected for
the trials of the special surface finish.
Rubber panels covered nearly the whole
fuselage with intention to delete the radar
frequency and so make the helicopter
less visible on the radar screens. The
new surface was also painted with an
experimental camo scheme. The paint was
to degrade the visibility of the helicopter
through the night vision goggles. None of
the measures proved efficient, the only
effect, apart of the smooth surface (the
riveting was hidden under the rubber
panels), was the added weight which
unbalanced the weight distribution of the
chopper.
The weapons
Apart of the above-mentioned ATGMs
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INFO Eduard
Shturm replacing the much slower
Falanga, Hind E had a much wider variety
of weapons. There were unguided rocket
blocks B8V20 of 80 mm caliber, gun pods
GUV either with 30 mm grenade launcher
9-A-669 or with one 12,7 mm 9-A-624 fourbarrel Gatling gun plus two 7,62 mm ones
of the same system. Another option were
cannon pods containing two-barrel UPK23/250 cannon of 23 mm caliber, mine
containers KMGU-2 or rocket launchers
RM-122. More to it, up to four external fuel
tanks, each of 450 liters of volume, could
be fitted to the inner and outer racks. The
Shturm missiles could be fitted not only to
the end pylons, but also to the outer racks
through special adapters, increasing the
maximum number of ATGMs to eight.
Prior to the political changes at the end of
1989, one set of the exhaust gas cooling
system (EVU) was supplied, but it was
never used. This system was eventually
tested by the Czech army in 2002 with
a new set of the same type previously
supplied.
The “new” generation
As a part of the debts payments by
Russian Federation to Czech Republic,
17 new Hinds E were supplied to the
Czech army between 2003 and 2006.
Seven of them kept the older designation
Mi-24V, while ten others were designated
Mi-35, which was the export designation
of basically the same aircraft . But some
minor differences existed.
The first batch consisted of seven
choppers numbered 7353 through 7358
plus 0981. They were all powered by the
new engines TV3-117VMA and the flare
dispensers were fitted differently to the
fuselage. The cockpits were painted in
black instead of the turquoise color used
previously. This change was done with aim
to allow use of the night vision goggles
(NVG). Unfortunately, the illumination was
not NVG compatible, so the effort was
useless.
As there was no GPS system installed,
these choppers were in fact the same as
those supplied in the eighties, including
the Cyrillic stenciling in the cockpits.
What was missing was the system
Friend-Foe, so these machines had
neither the antennae of the SRO-2 Chrom,
nor the 62-01 Parol. But early into use,
these new choppers were fitted with
APX-100 transponders and a little bit
later also with LUN 3520 radio of Czech
origin. The T-shaped black antenna was
fitted on the tail slightly to the right side.
In the WSO cockpit, the control panel was
April 2023