Mi-8

The Mi-8 is a family of medium twin-turbine helicopters designed in the late 1950s by Mikhail Mil’s bureau for the Soviet armed forces and introduced into service in 1967. Known by its NATO reporting name “Hip,” the type is produced by the Kazan Helicopter Plant and the Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant, and — per Wikipedia — remains the most-produced helicopter in history, with more than 17,000 airframes built and roughly 80 military and civil operators since production began in 1961. It fills transport, airborne command, armed gunship and reconnaissance roles, and its airframe is the parent of the Mil Mi-14 anti-submarine helicopter and the Mil Mi-24 attack helicopter.

The design is a conventional single-main-rotor configuration with twin turboshaft engines mounted above the cabin, feeding a five-blade main rotor and tail rotor. According to The Insider’s reporting on a Russian Industry and Trade Ministry meeting reviewed by Dallas Analytics, the current military production target — the Mi-8MTV-1 variant — depends on engine deliveries from United Engine Corporation beginning in September 2026 and on avionics from the Radio-Electronic Technologies Concern, whose shipments are conditional on advance payments. The role the type plays in the Ukraine war has shifted substantially since 2022: Russian Mi-8s are reported to be used primarily for evacuation and search-and-rescue, unguided rocket attacks delivered from pitch-up manoeuvres, and operations against aerial and naval drones, rather than the frontline air assault missions it originally supported.

Russia is by far the largest current military operator. At the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Mi-8s were used heavily in the airborne assault on Antonov Airport in Hostomel, where the type took serious losses. The helicopters have remained in sustained use since. On 23 September 2026, a Russian military Mi-8 crossed from Kaliningrad into Polish airspace north of Braniewo for 42 seconds, penetrating about 300 metres; Poland’s Operational Command publicly described the incursion as a test of its air defences, during a period when Russian exercises were underway in the enclave. Days later, on 4 October, Ukrainian and open-source monitors including the Crimean Wind group reported that drone strikes on the Khansk airbase in Adygea damaged aircraft at the field including Su-30s, Su-34s, Su-35s and Mi-8s, though the Russian Defence Ministry’s statement that day did not acknowledge the location.

Production plans suggest the Mi-8 will remain central to Russia’s military aviation for some time. The Insider, citing the Dallas Analytics review, reported in June 2026 that Russia intends to build 72 Mi-8MTV-1 helicopters at Kazan over two years, with 37 scheduled by the end of 2026; combined output across Kazan and Ulan-Ude could reach up to 160 airframes over the same period, enough, the investigators argue, to offset wartime losses and restore the capacity for large airborne operations by 2027. Russian defence channels have also claimed the Mi-8 is being adapted to air-launch F7 LITAVR interceptor drones against Ukrainian long-range strike UAVs — a role that, if confirmed in service, would extend the airframe well beyond its traditional transport and gunship work.