Dubai Airshow: Night Hunter out on the prowl

It previously appeared only at Moscow’s MAKS show.

This Russian attack helicopter is designed to operate by day and night and under adverse weather conditions, hunting a range of targets from main battle tanks and armoured vehicles to low-speed airborne targets.

The aircraft was designed to operate in harsh conditions and has a part-armoured fuselage, giving significant battle damage tolerance.

The Mi28NE is an improved and upgraded export version of the Mil Mi-28, which first flew almost 40 years ago, on November 101982, but was not selected by the Russian armed forces, as it lacked night attack capability.

The improved Mi-28N flew for the first time on November 14 1996, and entered Russian service in October 2009.

The first customer for the Mi-28NE was Iraq, which took delivery of its first aircraft in 2013. The type had its combat debut with the Iraqi Air Force in November 2015 during the fighting around Ramadi.

Algeria also acquired 42 Mi-28NEs, and these made their public debut in August 2016.

Russian Helicopters says that the variant being shown at Dubai is an improved version, first unveiled in 2018, which features an upgraded main rotor and the Khrisantema (Chrysanthemum) reconnaissance and strike system.

It uses Russian-made uprated VK2500-01 engines in place of the original TV3-117VMA engines, which were made in Ukraine. The new engines and upgraded rotor confer a high degree of aerobatic agility, which is being demonstrated in the impressive flying display.