MOSCOW. Feb 22 (Interfax-AVN) - The commander of the Land Forces aviation, Colonel General Vitaly Pavlov, said on Friday his aviation's major drawback was the impossibility to use it at night and in adverse weather conditions.
"The army aviation needs strike all-weather helicopters that are capable of destroying targets as soon as they are located in the daytime, at night and in adverse weather conditions," Pavlov told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The two-year-long test and combat operation of the MI-8MTKO helicopters confirms the need for sooner modernization of army aviation helicopters, he said.
Over 2,000 targets have been detected in Chechnya at night in the past two years, and up to 1,200 of them have been destroyed by artillery fire thanks to data from the MI-8MTKO air scouts. As many as 92 wounded helicopters were evacuated from the area of operation overnight in June 2000 with the help of two MI- 8MTKO helicopters.
The MI-8MTKO is fitted with the GOES-321 gyrostabilized optic and electronic system with an IR imager and a laser range finder, as well as night-vision glasses for crewmembers, illumination devices in the cockpit adjusted for use of night- vision glasses, and a satellite navigation and electronic indication system.
The MI-8MTKO helicopter is used for infrared surveillance of the enemy's installations and obtaining target coordinates enabling missile troops and artillery to deliver high-precision fire strikes on exposed enemy installations. However it is still impossible to transmit the image from the position indicator to the sight, Pavlov said. Installation of two devices, one for surveillance and the other for firing, makes the equipment more expensive.
Army aviation specialists have made sure that when hostile installations are exposed in the mountains or in a forest, the enemy is aware that the strike will follow in at least four to five minutes, which is necessary for the helicopter's withdrawal to a safe location, and has enough time to take measures for minimization of losses. The efficiency of hitting the enemy with ground-based killers fell down dramatically already in three to four months after night scouts had started to operate.
Pavlov stressed that the priority in research production and tests was given to the Ansat, KA-226 Hoodlum and modernized MI-2 Hoplite training helicopters, the KA-60U advanced flight training helicopter, the MI-24M and MI-24PK Hind helicopters. Special attention is paid to development of KA-52 and MI-28N Havoc all- weather strike helicopters operational in any time of the day and modernization of MI-8 Hip helicopters that envisages strengthening of the crew's armor protection at the first stage.
Pavlov admitted that poor financing of research and tests related to the strike all-weather helicopter operational 24 hours a day delayed the commissioning of KA-52 and MI-28N helicopters for too long.