Pakistan officially inducts new Mi-35M helicopters.

The Pakistani military has officially adopted four Russian-made Mil Mi-35M (NATO reporting name: Hind-E) transport-combat helicopters, a source from the country`s Ministry of Defense (MoD) told TASS.

A Pakistan Air Force Mi-35M combat helicopter during flight tests
(Credit: Youtube/Careem)

"The four platforms were delivered to Pakistan in 2017. On December 5, the rotorcraft were officially adopted by the 4th Army Aviation Squadron, which is stationed at an airbase near Quetta, Balochistan," the Pakistani source said.

The Mi-35M combat-transport helicopter is designed to provide fire support to ground troops, conduct air escort missions, transport soldiers, and evacuate casualties. The rotorcraft can be operated in combat, assault, transport, and medevac configurations.

The Mi-35M helicopter is fitted with a powerful armament suite that incorporates a flexible gun mount with a 23 mm GSh-23L cannon with an ammunition load of 450 rounds, up to 80 80 mm S-8 unguided rockets, up to eight anti-tank guided missiles, gun pods with 23 mm gun armament (each pod has an ammunition load of 250 rounds), and a Kord 12.7 mm heavy machinegun. To operate these weapons effectively, the Mi-35M helicopter is fitted with an up-to-date onboard radio-electronic suite that provides round-the clock usage of the rotor-wing aircraft and weapons.

The Mi-35M has a maximum take-off weight of 11,500 kg, a maximum external payload of 2,400 kg, a maximum speed of 315 km/h, a cruise speed of 260 km/h, a flight range of 415-1,085 km (depending on the variant), a dynamic ceiling of 5,700 m, a static ceiling of 3,100 m, a crew of two pilots, and a passenger capacity of eight soldiers.