Mil Mi-24

Mi-24 / Mi-25 / Mi-35
A Mi-24V of the Polish Land Forces
General information
Type	Attack helicopter with transport capabilities, helicopter gunship
National origin	Soviet Union/Russia
Manufacturer	Mil
Status	In service
Primary users	Russian Aerospace Forces 58 other users (see Operators section below)
Number built	2,648
History
Manufactured	1969–present[citation needed]
Introduction date	1972
First flight	19 September 1969
Developed from	Mil Mi-8

The Mil Mi-24 (Russian: Миль Ми-24; NATO reporting name: Hind) is a large helicopter gunship, attack helicopter and low-capacity troop transport with room for eight passengers.^[1] It is produced by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and was introduced by the Soviet Air Force in 1972. The helicopter is currently in use by 58 countries.

In NATO circles, the export versions, Mi-25 and Mi-35, are denoted with a letter suffix as "Hind D" and "Hind E". Soviet pilots called the Mi-24 the "flying tank" (Russian: летающий танк, romanized: letayushchiy tank), a term used historically with the famous World War II Soviet Il-2 Shturmovik armored ground attack aircraft. Other common unofficial nicknames were "Galina" (or "Galya"), "Crocodile" (Russian: Крокодил, romanized: Krokodil), due to the helicopter's camouflage scheme, and "Drinking Glass" (Russian: Стакан, romanized: Stakan), because of the flat glass plates that surround earlier Mi-24 variants' cockpits.^[2]