It should be noted right away that over the long decades of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the United States have accumulated simply colossal experience in the field of helicopter construction, especially when it comes to the creation and modernization of strike combat vehicles. This is the main reason why in the 19th century it will be quite difficult for both Russia and the United States to create a helicopter that would turn out to be frankly unsuccessful. Everything else is a matter of taste.
The Soviet experience in helicopter construction has not disappeared anywhere. He naturally moved to present-day Russia, and therefore the country can still make an excellent helicopter. One of these is the Mi-28NM, which many consider to be a direct competitor to such an American luminary as the AH-64 Apache, which has been in service with the United States since the mid-1980s.
The Mi-28 concept really deserves the highest praise and meets all the advanced ideas of helicopter engineering. Suffice it to mention the tandem arrangement of the cockpit with the crew. This layout is considered more progressive than the one that uses the same Ka-52. This makes the 28th potentially the best helicopter in Russia. It should be noted that the Mi-28N lacks a millimeter-wave radar, which can significantly increase the likelihood of detecting ground targets by a helicopter and the implementation of the "fire and forget" principle, for which the last American machines are so famous.
As for the Mi-28NM, the helicopter was the result of the hard work of the designers, as well as the fruit of numerous trials and errors. Of course, the novelty is a kind of response of the domestic industry to the latest achievements of overseas partners in the field of attack helicopter construction. The most important thing is that the Mi-28NM is no longer some kind of "paper project". Flight tests of the combat vehicle began in 2016.
Visually, the new helicopter is primarily distinguished by a "felled" nose. The helicopter operator's view has been significantly improved. A second set of control devices has appeared in the cockpit, which opens up additional opportunities for pilots. One of the notable innovations was the introduction of the new VK-2500P-01 / PS engine into the helicopter. At the same time, the most important moment was and remains the installation of an overhead radar station, the tests of which are continuing. According to semi-official data, its sensitivity is sufficient to detect a small UAV at a distance of 20 km, and a moving tank-type target at a distance of 20-25 km.
The only problem of the Mi-28NM helicopter is that today in Russia there is no assembly line for missiles like the American JAGM (Joint Air-to-Ground Missile), which would make it possible to fully use the latest helicopter radar station. Whether the domestic predator will get decent teeth at the time of production, only time will tell.
Want to know even more interesting things? How about reading about 5 largest helicopters in the world that can handle any cargo, even the most difficult.