HISTORY
Exterior surface – main and end tail
On the end cover of the upper section behind AI-9V, covering the driving gear box, since 1987 on the helicopters L-166V-11E Ispanka infrared
spectrum jammer is installed as a result of very costly experience of the
Soviet crews with Stinger missiles during the war in Afghanistan. For
the same reason, the infrared chaff flares ejectors were installed under
the end of the main boom at the same time. Four ASO-2V cassettes are
attached to the boom by two stainless steel clamps. The airframe without these modifications is in the instructions represented by already
mentioned No. 4009. D version lacks the U-shaped antenna under the
main boom for R-828 Eukaliptus radio for the communication with the
ground troops even though an opinion can be found in some publications
that some of Czechoslovak air force Hind Ds could have been equipped
with it.
On the tail boom the versions can differ in forward VKV antennas when
the standard, T-shaped one for R-863 radio was earlier represented by
sword-shaped antenna for R-860 i.e., the same as the rear antenna for
R-852. Consult the photographs to determine when the change took
place. Reportedly airframe 4009 carried two sword-shaped antennas
right after delivery without the „Afghan“ upgrade. Now we have reached
the tail where the main difference in comparison to V version is a mesh
next to the flight recorder. In case of V version AI-9V sucks the air from
here through the main boom but it’s missing on D because as we mentioned earlier AI-9V on D version sucks the air through the louvers located on the starting engine right cover. Therefore, the triangular mesh
cover on D version is plated over. On the tail boom lower section there
is again a trident-shaped antenna of the IIF SRO-2 Chrom 3rd bandwidth. D version lacks two antennas of the SPO-15 radar radiation warning
system and the oblique rectangular antenna cover on the spar right side.
Zvezda kit offers two options to cover the rear reduction gear. Off course
we will use the older version with complete coverage, the newer one,
with the simplified cover, is featured on Mi-24/35 aircraft delivered as
Ordnance
In comparison to V version the D ordnance combination is much less
diverse. It basically corresponds to an A version. The basic combination is four guided missiles 9M17P Falanga carried on the launching rails
2P32M/K-4U at the tips of the wing vertical pylons and rocket launchers
UB-32A-24 for 32 non-guided 57 mm rockets S-5KO or S-5MO. They are
attached to the BDZ-57KrV underwing racks numbered 1-4 from left to
right.
The bomb ordnance is represented by 50, 100, 250 kg FAB, OFAB, ZAB, RBK
and SAB aviation bombs or 500 kg aviation bombs or incendiary tanks
ZB-500. Let’s note that 500 kg ammunition could only be attached to the
inner racks Nos. 2 and 3 while the outer racks Nos. 1 and 4 has to remain
empty in that case. The 250 kg bombs and rocket launchers could be combined in which case the rocket launchers were attached to the inner racks
Nos. 2 and 3. The Falanga missiles could be attached with any ordnance
combination under the wings. Furthermore, Czechoslovak, and Czech air
force used the RM-122 rocket blocks containing four non-guided 120 mm
rockets LR-122, mostly attached to the outer racks Nos. 1 and 4 and training concrete bombs CP-100-70. Watch out for Jaroslav Spacek´s prank
18
eduard
The ASO-2V decoys were retrofitted under the tail spar on the Mi-24D. On the V version,
they were already moved to the fuselage because the original design increased the load
on the tail spar.
a part of the Russian debt deblock. Also watch out for a small bump on
the rear reduction gear right side. The kit again features the newer version with BUR flight recorder sensor. All Mi-24 delivered to Czechoslovak air force during socialist régime featured much smaller cover, just
a barely visible bump. The last difference is the tail rotor blades. On the
D version they feature shallower airfoil thickness i.e., they are without
„cut-off“ trailing edge ending at the root and tip as well. The correction
is very simple. Zvezda kit offers blades for V version, so you just need
to sand them down. So far, I haven’t mentioned the main rotor blades
reason being they are identical for both versions. We have finished describing the exterior surface differences and now only the last chapter
is remaining, the ordnance.
when he orchestrated the air-to-air guided missiles R-60 to be attached
on the launching rails of the airframe 4011 instead of the Falangas in 1995
at Caslav airbase!
Falanga missile launcher with live missiles deployed.
INFO Eduard - November 2021