Nigerian Air Force receives additional Mi-35M combat helicopters.

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) received two Mil Mi-35M (NATO reporting name: Hind-E) gunships in late April, according to the press department of the service. Pictures were released on the NAF official Facebook page.

NAF received two new Mi-35M helicopters on April 30
(Credit: NAF/Facebook)

"On April 30, 2018, the NAF took the delivery of two Mi-35M helicopters, which the Federal Government had ordered from Russia. [The service`s] Chief of Aircraft Engineering, Air Vice Marshal Abdulganiyu Olabisi received the new aircraft on behalf of the Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar," the press department of the NAF said in a statement.

"The newly delivered helicopters are brand new, being capable of night flights," the spokespersons for the service added.

The government of Nigeria initiated the acquisition of the Mi-35Ms in 2015, ordering a total of 12 helicopters. The first two rotary-wing platforms were delivered to the country in December 2016. The contract will have been implemented by end-2018.

The Mi-35M  is a comprehensive modernisation of the Mi-24V. It is equipped with the latest Klimov-produced powerful VK-2500 turboshaft engines, fibreglass main rotor blades, main rotor head with elastomeric joints, a new swashplate and X-type tail rotor. The Mi-35M’s fuselage boasts shortened stub wings and fixed landing gear.

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