Mil Mi-24P Hind

Making a welcome return to the flying and static display at this year's Air Tattoo is the Hungarian Air Force with their Mi-24P Hind. This large helicopter once formed the backbone of the attack helicopter fleet throughout the Soviet Union and gained notoriety during the 1980's in Afghanistan. Not only is the Hind armed with a wide away of missiles, bombs and guns - it is unique in the attack helicopter class being able to carry up to 8 troops in its cabin.

Hungary had placed its fleet of Mi-24P and Mi-24V Hinds into storage by 2012. However as part of the Zrinyi 2026 program to modernise the Hungarian Armed Forces, six Mi-24P and two Mi-24V have now been modernised in Russia with a further four Mi-24V to be modernised in Hungary. This upgrade will see the Hind remain in service with the Hungarian Air Force until the late 2020s.

Photo Credit: József Husz