- Yes
- No
- Researchable
- Premium
- Squadroon
- Event
- I Don’t Know/I Don’t Care
- I Voted No
- 9.7 or lower
- 10.0
- 10.3
- 10.7
- 11.0
- 11.3
- 11.7 or higher
- I Don’t Know/I Don’t Care
- I Voted No
Israel Aerospace Industries Mi-24V “Mission24”
Sorry for the low resolution, no good pictures to be found.
Description:
Mi-24V “Mission24” - Is an Israeli made modification of Soviet Mi-24V attack helicopter made in the late 90s, the development of which was led by IAI’s Tamam and Mata Devisions, 1st specializes in development and production of high performance Inertial and Electro-Optic (EO) products, and 2nd one in Helicopters modernization and Integration of various weapon systems.
The main objective of “Mission24” kit was to provide the Mi-24 with real night combat capability.
Tamam’s upgrade includes the installation of a 30 kg HMOSP optronic ball on the turret. It incorporates both a day/night TV camera, a FLIR, an automatic targeting system, laser rangefinder, designator and pointer, all coupled with a new mission computer. The HMOSP (Helicopter Multi-mission Optronic Stabilized Payload) is implemented by a simple multifunction screen in the cockpit. It is derived from the night targeting system fitted to the USMC AH-1Ws. In addition, the cockpit is modified to allow the use of night vision binoculars as well as a monocular helmet sight.
The HMOSP can incorporate two types of FLIR: a scanning array 4 x 480 Cadmium-mercury-telluride detectors, operating in the low-wavelength band, and a 320x 240- element indium-antimony focal plane array functioning at the middle wavelengths.
Thanks to Mata’s upgrades this helicopter is capable of carrying both western and eastern made pylons, that makes this helicopter suitable for wide range of countries that oparate Mi-24 helicopter in eastern and western militaries.
The HMOSP is integrated with the Shturm-V ATGM SLOC guidance system through an IR goniometer and interface unit designed by IAI Tamam engineers, which has fully replaced the original old and bulky Raduga-F sighting/ATGM optical tracking system. The Raduga-F ‘s role for targeting and tracking both the target and missile was taken over by HMOSP. As said earlier helicoper is also capable to carry western made pylons, like Hydra 70 unguided rockets and israeli Spike-ER ‘Fire-and-forget’ missiles as seen on the Israeli prototype.
Main Features of “Mission24” kit:
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A day-night sight with TV and FLIR.
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A mission computer.
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NVG-compatible cockpit with MFDs and moving-map display.
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Support for helmet-mounted sights.
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A countermeasures suite.
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Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite navigation network receiver.
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Support for the 9K113 Sturm-V (AT-6 Spiral) and Rafael Spike-ER antitank missiles.
You may ask me why I chose this title, first of all it’s strange name that sound like something from a Jamse Bond movies, and secondly its background and how it ended up in Israel.
History:
Mi-24V is the first large series of Mi-24 helicopter, it was built serially for 10 years from 1976 to 1986. Fundamental changes were made to the helicopter compared to earlier versions - the cockpit was converted into a tandem one, with the operator in front of the pilot. Due to the underdevelopment of the Shturm complex, helicopters with a new cabin had to be equipped according to the Mi-24B type, and this “intermediate version” went into series. It took 8 years to fine-tune the Mi-24V. In 1976, the helicopter was officially put into service and was built in the most massive series.
The story of this helicopter in Israel started in the mid 90’, the defense compex saw the opportunity to be first one to develop Mi-24 upgrade program that was not only easier to install, but much cheaper then it’s Russian and French counterparts.
Israel never operated Mi-24 of any type and never ment to, thats why Israel bought it’s Mi-24V helicopter (c/n 3532422014792) on the black market. Interesting enought that this number was unearthed in the documents of the TEC of the Kaliningrad 288th regiment. But this does not mean anything, the vehicle after the factory repair could appear anywhere, as it was in many cases with the huge stockpiles of Soviet eqipment leftover in the 90’ Russia.
The Israeli Mi-24V then was upgraded with a modernisation kit that recived name “Mission24”, which itself was a play on words from Mi-24 ( Mi-ssion-24 ). The project was very ambitious given that Israel was ready to obtain Mi-24 in a qustionable way. Israel was targeted at a large number of countries, since the helicopter model itself was mass-produced, the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact collapsed. Which meant only one thing, there were many poor countries with a large number of helicopters that needed simple and cheap modernization.
“Mission24” upgrade proposal was selected by the Indian Air Force in an order comprising 25 upgrade kits under a $US20 million contract signed in 1998. It proved to be a good advertisement with which to convince potential customers. With an affordable and rapid integration of observation/sighting, navigation, self-defense and self-protection equipment proven in real-world operational conditions, the helicopter could perform well in the demanding CAS/AA role in the 21’st century battlefield, including at night and in adverse weather.
Compared to the israeli prototype that could carry both Russian made 9K113 Shturm-V (Eastern) and Israeli Spike-ER (Weatern) missiles, Indian Air Force, which has ample stocks of Shtrum-V missiles, preferred to limit the guided weapons integration work on it’s upgraded helicopters to the relatively cheap and well-proven Russian made supersonic ATGM.
Spoiler
Israeli prototype carries both western (Hydra 70 and Spike-ER) and eastern (9K113 Shturm-V) pylons.
It was reported that the production phase of the Indian Air force Mi-25/35 (no change in designation) was successfully running in 2001 or 2002. During the contract implementation phase, the IAF was tight lipped about the upgrade details, and IAI has also been reluctant to disclose the details of the launch customer for its “Mission24” package. The modernization process continued until 2004 for a first public presentation at the Aero India 2003 show.
The modified helicopters are recognizable by their new light gray livery received for the occasion.
Spoiler
Indian AF, modernized helocopters. Their dezignation stays as unmodified ones (i.e. Mi-25 and Mi-35).
But unfortinatly despite the extent of the market to which IAI was addressing and the effort put into the project, Indian Air Force stays one and only known buyer of the kit.
The israeli prototype was scrapped shortly after It was realised that the project didn’t go as far as it was expected and the need in “Mission24” technology demonstrator was gone. This is confirmed by the fact that on the Internet there are photographs dating back to 2018 of this very prototype disassembled in a parking lot IAI military ramp in TLV.
Specifications:
General
OrigiN - Soviet Union
Type - Attack helicopter
Crew
2 + 8 (pilot, gunner, 8 troops)
Dimensions
Length - 17.51 m fuselage, 21.35 m rotors turning.
Width - 6.5 m wingspan
Height - 6.5 m
Empty weight - 8.5 t
Gross weight - 11 t
Max take-off weight - 12.0 t
Propulsion
Powerplant - 2x Klimov TV3-117V turboshaft, 2.225 shp each.
Rotor setup - Five blade main rotor, Three blade tail rotor.
Diameter - 17.3 m main rotor, 3.91 m tail rotor.
Disc area - 235 m² main rotor, 12 m² tail rotor.
Fuel - 1.840 L internal
Performance
Speed - 335 km/h max, 295 km/h cruise.
Range - 450 km, 950 km with auxiliary fuel.
Ceiling - 4.5 km
Climb rate - 12.5 m/s
Armament
Hardpoints - 4 hardpoints, 2 wingtips.
Hardpoint Pylons - 4x Spike-ER, 7x Hydra 70, 19x Hydra 70.
Wingtip Pylons - 2x 9K113 Shturm-V (AT-6 Spiral)
Fixed gun - 1x 12.7mm Yak-B minigun, 1.470 rounds ready to fire.
Flares - 4-6x ASO-2V-02 with 32 flares each
Gallery:
Spoiler
Prototype at a display
Scrapped Prototype
Indian Mi-25 before and after upgrade
Other pics of modification in IAF (india)
Conclusions and Final Words:
Mi-24 “Mission24” is an interesting take on combination of western and eastern made weaponary made by IAI. It would be interesteng to see ingame estecially for Israeli TT, it’ll be a purely CAS helicopter, since it was seen only with anti-tank weapons, and the possibility of installing anti-aircraft weapons was not even mentioned in any sources. The existence of the vehicle itself was not known, but thanks to Discovery made by on a Israeli tech tree discord server. I was able to gather enough information to make this suggestion possible.
Thank you for reading my suggestion trough to the end, If you are interested you can check out my previous suggestions via my profile, as of right now I havent transfered all of my suggestions from the old forum so you can check out them through the links there.
And as always if you noticed any mistakes or have any helpful sources, please let me know and I will make necessary corrections.