We’re not busted for discussing Jane’s articles, are we PiBu 😮

I’ve been reading your stuff on JED Online as well, I can’t get enough!

That’s why I’m not so impressed of the Mi-28. In Eastern Germany, we had Hinds, too. They were not very reliable. If this is better in the new machine, great. What I like is the compartment for troops in the Mi-28. This maybe useful for special operations.

The Mi-28N doesn’t use any Mi-24 components. Upgraded Mi-24s use Mi-28N components. Got it backwards, really. The small compartment in the Mi-28 can hold only two men, it’s got no value for special operations. Or did you mean Mi-24?

As to saying HINDs weren’t reliable, how do you know exactly?

The AH-64D clearly has the best sensors/fire control in general and superb weapons to back it up. It’s fire-and-forget Hellfires, as well as it’s Hydra 70 rocket pods and the 30mm chain gun mean that it’s not just a tank-killer, though that’s surely what it’s primary job is. On the minus side, it’s somewhat of an unreliable hangar queen.

The Mi-28N on the other hand is no slouch sensor/fire control wise (FLIR, intergrated DASS, datalinks for network between fellow aircraft and lots of other goodies), is more heavily armed in all departments (16 ATGMs standard vs 8, 40 80mm rockets, superior 30mm cannon) and certainly more heavily armored and protected.

Tough call- but we’ve seen the AH-64D perform, so I’d give it to the AH-64 by a narrow margin, for now.

I don’t know whether it was to transfer funding to the R-77 or some other project/priority, but the R-77 definitely played a role in the demise of the R-27AE in some way.

That’s still more than a 20% difference difference.

Yeah, but in terms of actual increased size, is it worth continuing development rather than favoring the newer, more agile generation?

(I hear the R-77M is supposed to have increased diameter as well- or maybe it was increased length …)

Actually, there is no reasony why the R-27AE should not have a superior seeker over the R-77. The R-27AE allows a larger seeker and antenna than would be possible with the R-77.

The whole point of the R-27AE is to upgrade existing stocks of R-27 with a simple change of the seeker-warhead body since the missile is modular.

Well, that was the whole point. Then it was halted. Oh well- regardless, the difference in seeker size between the R-77 and R-27AE is quite negligible. (260mm body diameter vs 200mm diameter).