Helicopter seized by Taliban has been symbol of Afghan conflict for decades

Students and historians of war have always been prone to identifying some weapons as being symbols of particular conflicts. So, the German 'Stuka' dive bomber was synonymous with the 'Blitzkrieg' in the early stages of the Second World War, while the US Patriot surface-to-air missile was all the rage when the US and its allies sought to protect Saudi Arabia and Israel from Iraq's Scud missiles in 1991.

Given that Afghanistan has been in near-constant conflict since the Soviet Union invaded the country in December 1979, numerous weapons have become synonymous with the violence in that country. But few stayed in the public imagination as much as the Soviet-designed Mil Mi-24 attack helicopter. NATO gave the Mi-24 the prosaic codename 'Hind'.

The Hind was back in focus on Wednesday when news emerged that the Taliban had taken control of a helicopter when it seized Kunduz airport. The helicopter was an Mi-35 (an export derivative of the Mi-24) and one of four rotorcraft that India had gifted to the Afghan military in 2019.

The Mi-24 was the second purpose-built attack helicopter in the world to be introduced into service after the US AH-1 Cobra. It made its first flight in 1969. Where the Mi-24 differed from western counterparts was its capability to carry a small contingent of infantry personnel, up to eight men. This allowed the rotorcraft to act as both a conventional armed helicopter and a troop transport.

Despite newer attack helicopters, such as the AH-64 Apache, emerging, the Hind, with its multiple guns and rockets, has remained a presence in numerous battlefields over the past five decades.

History in Afghanistan

The Soviet Union employed the Mi-24 to protect the ground forces tasked in the invasion of Afghanistan. These helicopters were armed with gun pods and unguided rockets to pick off Afghan resistance fighters and give cover to advancing Soviet ground forces. The Afghan resistance fighters dubbed the Hind the 'Devil's Chariot' given the helicopter’s size and menacing design and their inability to shoot it down using small arms. Western observers and the Afghan Mujahideen had alleged the Soviet Union used the Mi-24 helicopters to attack villages and even drop chemical agents.

However, the Mi-24 began facing setbacks in Afghanistan from 1986 when the US started to supply the Mujahideen 'Stinger' surface-to-air missiles. These shoulder-fired missiles homed in on the heat emissions of their targets. A US military report estimated that around 270 Soviet aircraft were downed in less than a year between October 1986 to September 1987, with the Hind suffering considerably.

The effectiveness of the Stinger missile forced the Mi-24 to operate at higher altitudes, reducing its utility in combat as the aircraft lacked advanced targeting systems to detect enemy targets on the ground. But the use of the Mi-24 in combat operations continued. The Mi-24 lingered in Afghanistan following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989. After the Taliban came to power in 1995, both the Taliban and the opposing 'Northern Alliance' of warlords operated Mi-24 helicopters.

The Hind family saw an unexpected revival after the fall of the Taliban as the US-led coalition sought to rebuild Afghanistan's armed forces. In 2008, the Czech Republic supplied five Mi-35 helicopters to Afghanistan. The US military initially supported the supply of Mi-35 helicopters, noting the familiarity of the Afghan military with the system. The US Air Force, in a news article in 2010, noted, "Often called a ‘flying tank’, the helicopter is durable, powerful and well-suited for the temperature and terrain of Afghanistan."

Interestingly in 2015, the Afghanistan Air Force formally removed the Hind from its ‘official structure’, as the US pushed Kabul to buy smaller American helicopters such as the MD530F. However, a Pentagon review noted the Afghan Air Force still continued to support the helicopter 'unofficially’.

In September 2015, Qalandar Shah Qalandari, a decorated Afghan pilot, told The New York Times the country needed more Hind helicopters as the smaller US aircraft had weaker engines.

The Mi-24 is estimated to have served in the militaries of around 60 countries at various points of time. Russian arms export conglomerate Rostec claimed in 2014 over 3,500 Mi-24 helicopters were built in numerous variants. India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have all operated the Mi-24 family, with the Indian Air Force phasing it out by introducing the US-built Apache and indigenous Light Combat Helicopter.

The Mi-24 family has been steadily upgraded with new infra-red and TV sensors and electronic warfare systems to protect against enemy missiles. The helicopters have also received new air-to-ground missiles and rockets. While new attack helicopters from the West and Russia have begun eating into the sales’ prospects of the Mi-24, the sheer number of Hind helicopters built means the type will be around for a few more decades.

Legacy

Such was the Hind’s visibility as a Soviet weapon in the 1980s that it was featured in both Rambo 2 and Rambo 3, starring Sylvester Stallone. But a French-built Puma helicopter was modified to resemble a Hind in both the movies. The plot of Rambo 3 was about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Hind also ‘appeared’ in the 1984 Patrick Swayze movie Red Dawn, which revolved around a Soviet-led invasion of the US.