Vehicle I-D: Afghan 8/17 Mils

NATO reporting name Hip.

The primary identifying feature between Mil 8 and 17 versions is; the Mil 8 has the tail rotor on the pilot’s right side, the Mil 17 has the tail rotor on the pilot’s left side.  All other details are subject to change.

Video by Bob Ditchey, Hip door gunner live-fire, 13MAY2018:

2014 video, Mil 17B(V)-5 helicopters inflight over Afghanistan:

2014 video, by Senior Airman Brandi Hansen, of NATO member Czech Republic advisers on a training flight, with live-fire door gunning, in an Afghan Mil 17B(V)-5 helicopter.  Czech Republic has a long history of using Mil helicopters and was sent to help train Afghans:

2013 NATO video report; Uruzgan based 4th Brigade of the Afghan National Army conducted resupply and casualty evacuations:

Forward Operating Base Shank in Logar province, 04AUG2012. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Austin Berner.

Photo by Technical Sergeant Dennis Henry.

In 2012, NATO member Czech Republic deployed air-crews to Afghanistan.  They got acquainted with the terrain by taking rides in Afghan Mil 17B(V)-5.

Photo by Technical Sergeant Dennis Henry.

Photo by Technical Sergeant Dennis Henry.

Photo by Technical Sergeant Dennis Henry

U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer Second Class Jonathan David Chandler. Sun rises on a Mil-8 helicopter on Camp Bastion, Helmand province, 23OCT2011.

Photo by Staff Sergeant Matthew Smith.

Photo by Staff Sergeant Matthew Smith.

Forward Operating Base (FOB) Bostick, 09OCT2011.

Photo by Staff Sergeant Matthew Smith.

FOB Fenty, Jalalabad, 09OCT2011.

Photo by Staff Sergeant Matthew Smith.

Mil 17B(V)-5 over FOB Fenty, 08OCT2011.

Photo by Staff Sergeant Matthew Smith.

Photo by Staff Sergeant Matthew Smith.

May 2011: Mil 17B(V)-5 crash & burn.

Photo by Petty Officer Third Class Jared Walker.

Video, February 2011, rocket training:

Video by Sergeant Bryan Spradlin, October 2010, showing U.S. and Afghan forces refueling and rearming a Hip:

During Afghan national elections Hip helicopters are used to deliver empty ballot boxes, and then retrieve full ballot boxes after voting.  These pics are from September 2010.

Maybe it’s time the United States use its military to control ballots during national level elections?

Photo by Petty Officer Second Class Ernesto Hernandez Fonte.

August 2010, U.S. advisers fire the rockets of a Mil 17.  U.S. advisers were prepping to train-up Afghan aircrews in using the Hip as a gunship.

Photo by Staff Sergeant Teddy Wade.
Contracted Mil Mi-8 helicopter lands at FOB Airborne, 25NOV2009.

Hip door gunners, 03OCT2009. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Angelita Lawrence.

By November 2008, Afghanistan had received three new U.S. taxpayer funded Mi-17 Hips. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sergeant Keith Brown, 25NOV2008.

Vehicle I-D: UH-60 FOR AFGHANISTAN, KILLED-OFF BY THE MIL 17?

Afghan Mi-24 Hind-D.

MAINTAINING SATAN’S CHARIOT

See how the CH-47 loves to collect ‘Hip’ bones