>>124234
Supposedly the Hip cost significantly less than the Hind, both to manufacture and to operate, though authoritative figures are difficult to point to because the USSR didn't price or measure any of this the way "capitalists" would.
The Hind, on paper, could carry a full rifle section of eight plus all their gear. In Afghanistan it was found that if they were bringing troops to a location where they would have to disembark under fire, no more than two or three were likely to be able to exit a Hind before mortar rounds started landing in the LZ. This kind of defeats the purpose of the Hind. Also the Hip has those giant sideways clamshell doors at the back of the hull, allowing Igor and the boys to exit with a quickness. This almost compensates for the Hip's lack of armor. Almost.
The Hip did have provision for wired hardpoints, up to three on each side, maybe more for less common variants like the Mi-8TVK. I know the Ukies are using the armed version with rocket pods for indirect fire harassment & interdiction against known or suspected Russian Troop concentrations, supply routes, and so on. They bolt on the launchers, load them up with a shitload of Cold War surplus rockets, and then Boris takes off. He has a map, maybe printed out, maybe on a tablet. He flies nap-of-the-earth to such-and-such map coordinates, then he points the nose at the intended target area, accelerated, does a pop-up, and with the nose pointed up at the angle from the notes, at the speed and altitude from the notes, and he presses the big red "fire all ze rockets" button. The rockets fly several miles, in an arc up and then back down, and land in an area a grid square across or more, while Boris hauls ass for the airbase. This is not a particularly accurate method of fire, and I have heard the suggestion that it is employed more for purposes of morale than in any realistic hope of hitting anything significant. But they do it every day, sometimes while being shot at.
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