The Mil Mi-35 is a modern, originally Soviet, and now Russian heavy combat helicopter with a retractable in-flight landing gear, in a classic layout with a main rotor and a tail rotor on a beam in a fenestron configuration. In the Mi-35M version, the drive is provided by two motors ТVЗ-117VМА or VК-2500 with a maximum power of 2,200 HP each. The total length of the machine is 21.27 m with a rotor diameter of 17.2 meters.
The Mil Mi-35 is a development of the famous Mil Mi-24 helicopter, and more precisely, it is the designation of the Mi-24W machine, which was exported to countries outside the Warsaw Pact. However, the Mi-35, in the course of the development of this great design, was subject to further modifications, which led to the creation of the Mil Mi-35P version (designation for the export version of the Mi-24P), which received different firearms. In 1999, a version of the Mi-35M was created, initially intended for the Russian armed forces, and later mainly for export. Compared to its predecessors, it had new, more powerful engines, which improved the helicopter's performance, the use of a new type of weaponry, as well as new avionics. The machine also received a completely new rotor, with blades made of composites, and a fixed undercarriage, instead of a retractable one. The main users of the Mi-35M are Russia, Brazil, Venezuela and Azerbaijan.
The Mil Mi-24 (NATO code: Hind) was a heavy Soviet-made combat helicopter with a full metal, half-shell structure, with a retractable landing gear, in a classic layout with a main rotor and a tail rotor on the beam. The drive was provided by two turboshaft engines TW-3-177MT of various models, each with a capacity of 2200 HP. The first prototype flew in September 1969, and serial production lasted from 1970 to 1983. The main impulse for the development of the Mi-24 were the new tactical and operational assumptions of the Soviet Army, which began to put great emphasis on the use of attack combat helicopters in its offensive operations in the late 1960s. Originally, the Mi-8 performed well in this role, but based on its components, it was decided to create a heavily armed helicopter, faster and still capable of carrying up to 8-10 landing troops. This is how the Mi-24 was born - a machine that is revolutionary in its own way, unique in its concept and when it was put into service (early 1970s), outclassing all Western designs. A lot of modernization of the basic version (Mi-24) was created. The first chronologically was the version of the Mi-24A, in which the ergonomics of the machine was improved and more powerful engines were added. Later, the Mi-24D model was developed, which had a different cabin shape already in a tandem arrangement and a different arrangement of the tail rotor. An export version was also created, called the Mi-35. The very successful Mi-24 was widely exported to the Warsaw Pact countries, but also to Libya and Ethiopia, for example. Mi-24 helicopters took part in numerous armed conflicts, including: during the Vietnamese intervention in Cambodia, but most of all in the war in Afghanistan (1979-1989), where the Mi-24 became the "workhorse" of the Soviet troops, at the same time, high efficiency. The Mujahideen have nicknamed the Mi-24 helicopters "the devil's chariot."