Mil M1-24 Hind Attack Helicopter

After studying military history General Designer Mikhail Leont'yevich Mil, head of OKB-329.' came to the obvious conclusion that one of the general trends was towards ever higher mobility and better equipment of the land forces. In the early days strategists tried to put as many men on horses and wagons as they could when moving troops. These gave way to trucks and later armoured personnel carriers (APCs) when the infantry became mechanized infantry. The 1960s saw the introduction of a new type of army equipment, the infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) which carried a wide range of armament plus a detail of troops. Mil believed that the next logical step would be to create "flying IFVs' in the form of heavily armed and armoured helicopters which could deliver a squad ol troops and provide close air support (CAS). Inevitably, such a helicopter was required to have high performance, survivability and devastating firepower.