Uzbekistan has received into service at least one of a batch of Mil Mi-35M ‘Hind-E’ assault helicopters that were ordered from Russia in early 2018.
Screenshot of an Uzbekistan news report from 14 January showing at least one new Mil Mi-35M ‘Hind’ assault helicopter (foreground) that was recently delivered to the country. The helicopter in the background is an earlier-variant Mi-24. (O’Zbekiston24)
Footage aired on the national O’Zbekiston24 news channel on 14 January showed the new helicopter at Karshi Khanabad airbase in the south of the Central-Asian republic. While media reports that as many as four helicopters were delivered in late 2019, from the footage it is only possible to confirm the arrival of the first one.
Russia’s TASS news agency first reported the sale of up to 12 Mi-35M helicopters to Uzbekistan in March 2018.
As the most modern derivative of the Mi-24/25/35-series of ‘Hind’ helicopters, the Mi-35M is essentially an export variant of the Russian Army’s latest Mi-24M. As noted by Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft: In Service , the Mi-35M can carry a wide range and load of weaponry including a 23 mm GSh-23-2 twin-barrel gun in the nose turret (with 470 rounds); up to 16 radio-guided 9M114 (AT-6 ‘Spiral’), or laser-guided 9M-120 anti-tank, 9M-120F blast fragmentation or 9A-220 air-to-air versions of the Ataka (AT-12) missile; GUV gun/grenade pods; UPK-23-250 gun pods; B-8V-20A and B-13L rocket pods; S-24B rockets; and KMGU pods of anti-armour and anti-personnel mines. It is also capable of all-weather as well as day and night operations.
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