After armored vehicles and drones, it is the turn of Russian helicopters to take stock of their skills following their use in the Syrian theater, in order to update their capacities and their systems. After the Ka-52 and the Mi-28, it is the Mi-35, heir to the famous Mi-24 Hind, to experience an evolution, the majority of the fleet will therefore switch from the M standard to the MV standard, integrating a new President-S anti-missile protection system, modernized OPS-24N1 optronics, new engines and reinforcement of its armor.
This modernization is interesting in more than one way. Firstly, it comes at a time when the Mil office was in friction with the Russian Ministry of Defense over the modernization of the Mi-28, the Russian military having judged the aircraft to be inefficient in the Syrian theater, and preferring the Ka-52. Above all, the Mi-35s, supposed to be a waiting solution before the entry into service of the Mi-28 and Ka-52, were not intended to be modernized, and were even to be gradually withdrawn from service from 2020 This modernization, in this context, shows that the device must have been particularly effective in the Syrian theater, and that the logic of the Gunship, a heavily armed helicopter capable of transporting up to 8 armed men, continues to have. the favors of the Russian military.