Wargmes Unit - Soviet, Combat Helicopter Regiment, Assault Helicopter Squadron

Otdelnyy Boyevoy Vertoletnyy Polk OBVP or Independent Combat Helicopter Regiments were formed to support Soviet Armies from the late 70's and were part of the fronts Air Army. The Regiments comprised:

• 2 Attack Helicopter Squadrons of 5 Flights of 4 Mi-24
• 1 Assault Helicopter Squadron of 5 Flights of 4 Mi-8

As a component of Air Assault operations undertaken by the DShV the Assault Helicopter Squadron was critical for  Command and Control, ECM, Escort and Transport, depending on the exact configuration of the Mi-8s.

The detailed organisation of the five flights of Mi-8 breaks down as follows:

• 2 Flights Mi 8 TV NATO Hip E,
• 2 Flights Mi 8T NATO Hip C,
• 1 Flight Mi-8VzPU NATO Hip-D and two unidentified special versions of the Mi-8T

The Aircraft can be of three types and it might be worth speculating about the fourth.

• Mi-8T, Hip C - Unarmed, carries 8,000 lbs internal, 6,000lbs slung, Upto 24 seated passengers or 12 stretcher cases.
• Mi-8TV mark I, also known as Mi-8T, from 1968, Hip C - Armed Version of Mi-8T can be armed with 4, UV-16-57U Rocket Pods, and 2 PKT machine guns (nose and tail), alternatively 1000lb bombs could be deployed on the weapon points. All Mi - 8Ts including civil versions were capable of being configured in this way hence the confusing naming conventions. In this configuration there was no impact on the number of passengers carried, certainly in European flying conditions.  As such my assumption is that the Mi-8T designated flights would be armed in this configuration.
• Mi-8TV mark II, from 1974, Hip E . Includes a nose mounted, flexible KV-4 12.7 mm HMG. 6 weapons pylons capable of deploying six UV-32-57U rocket pods, these each carried 32 57mm rockets as opposed to the 16 in each of the mark I's rocket pods. four AT-2 Swatter ATGMs were carried on rails over the 4 Outboard Pylons. In this configuration passengers and cargo could not be carried.
• Mi-8VzPU is an unarmed Airborn command post which was a post production conversion of the Mi-8T, recognisable by a prominent towel rail AE on the top of the fuse large above the rear doors and two box like equipment pods mounted instead of the weapons pylons.

• I suspect though have no evidence is that the unnamed variants were ECM aircraft with air defence suppression systems on board, although communications relay aircraft, mine laying aircraft or NBC Recce might all make sense.

I use the aircraft armed with three weapon pylons per side to represent the TV mark IIs with 6 UB-32-57 Pods and 4 ATGW and an HMG, effectively as gunships for escort and the remainder as Mi-8Ts armed with the 4 smaller UB-16-57-U systems, that carry troops.

Later versions of the aircraft in these two configurations increased the flexibility of the weapons loads, adding 23mm Cannon Pods to the range of options and upgrading the ATGW systems as well as increasing troop capacity.

With a carrying capacity of 24 a flight can carry 96 troops which I equate to a basic company with no task organised support. If task organised support weapons are added into the mix I assume a second flight is required.

The aircraft are from a mix of manufacturers and the flight stands are all from Coresec Enginering mounted on East Riding Minatures MDF bases. The detail of the supported units and models have all been covered in previous posts referenced at the end of this post.

Reference:

• Global Defence - Ground Forces Aviation/Army Aviation
• Global Defence - Ground Forces Aviation/Army Aviation Tactics
• Global Defence - Ground Forces Aviation/Army Aviation Aircraft
• Soviet 16 Air Army web site
• Scramble, Mi-8 modifications
• FM 100-2-1 Soviet Army Operations and Tactics
• FM 100-2-3 Soviet Troops Organisation and Equipment
• Soviet Tactical Aviation - Yefim Gordon & Dmitriy Kamissorov
• Mil Mi-8 / Mi-17 Rotary-Wing Workhorse and Warhorse - Yefim Gordon

Related Posts:

• ORBAT - Soviet Air Assault Capability Part 1, Overview and Lift Assets
• ORBAT - Soviet Air Assault Capability Part 2, Army Air Assault Battalion
• Review - Model 1/72, Mi-24 Hinde, Italeri, Zedveda, Matchbox, Airfix
• Review - Model 1/72, KP Mi-8 and Mi-8T Hip
• Wargames Unit - Soviet, Combat Helicopter Regiment, Attack Helicopter Squadron
• Wargames Unit - Soviet Late 80's Independent DShV Battalion

Posted with Blogsy