Mi-28

The Mi-28, known in NATO parlance as “Havoc,” is a Soviet-era tandem-seat attack helicopter designed by the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant for the anti-armour role. Unlike the earlier Mi-24, which paired gunship duties with troop transport, the Mi-28 was built as a dedicated attack platform with no secondary transport capacity. Russian sources date the modernised Mi-28N “Night Hunter” entry into service to 22 December 2013, and the deeper Mi-28NM upgrade first flew on 29 July 2016. Operators include the Russian Aerospace Forces, the Iraqi Air Force, and the Algerian Air Force. Russian defence press has reported a unit cost of roughly $18 million.

The airframe pairs a single 30 mm 2A42 autocannon in a chin-mounted barbette — the NPPU-280-1 installation, with 250 rounds — and four underwing hardpoints carrying up to about 1,600 kg of external stores. The Russian outlet TASS describes a weapons suite on the Mi-28NM comparable to that of the Su-25 strike aircraft: 9M120 Ataka laser-guided anti-tank missiles, Shturm-V, S-8 and S-13 rocket pods, 9M123M Khrizantema-VM supersonic ATGMs, and the long-range “Izdeliye 305” multirole missile, which the manufacturer claims reaches beyond 25 kilometres using inertial guidance with terminal homing. Russian designers also claim a helmet-cued, fire-and-forget capability on at least one munition, and a defensive suite combining radar, laser and missile-approach warning receivers, a directed-infrared jammer, and flare dispensers. These are vendor-side figures, and independent confirmation of range and jam-resistance claims is scarce.

Combat use has shifted since 2022. The Russian channel rybar observed in September 2026 that attack helicopters — Mi-28, Ka-52, and Su-25 — had moved away from close frontline work toward longer-range strikes and quick egress as Ukrainian air defences thickened, with increased UAV cueing for targeting. Russian channels including intelslava and uav_tech have shown footage, reported in autumn 2026, of Mi-28 crews using the 2A42 autocannon to engage Ukrainian FP-1 and MICH loitering munitions — a kinetic counter-UAS tactic that spares expensive air-to-air missiles. OSINT monitors including osintdefender reported in September 2026 that Mi-28 pylons had been photographed carrying the S8000 “Banderol” small cruise missile, a new rotary-wing loadout for the type.

Losses have been claimed on the Ukrainian side. In October 2026, Ukraine’s 115th Mechanised Brigade said it had struck two Mi-28 helicopters in Belgorod region using FPV drones, with the airframes’ status unconfirmed. Earlier, Ukrainian channels published satellite imagery of Sochi airport they said showed burn marks on Mi-28, Ka-52, and Mi-8 helicopters after a kamikaze-drone strike, claiming two attack helicopters lost outright — a claim Russian channels including milinfolive repeated. The Mi-28 continues to be fielded and iterated alongside the Ka-52 as one of Russia’s two main attack-helicopter lines.