Mil Mi-24

Mi-24 / Mi-25 / Mi-35
A Mi-24V of the Polish Land Forces
General information
Type	Attack helicopter with transport capabilities, helicopter gunship
National origin	Soviet Union/Russia
Manufacturer	Mil
Status	In service
Primary users	Russian Aerospace Forces 58 other users (see Operators section below)
Number built	2,648
History
Manufactured	1969–present[citation needed]
Introduction date	1972
First flight	19 September 1969
Developed from	Mil Mi-8

The Mil Mi-24 (Russian: Миль Ми-24; NATO reporting name: Hind) is a large helicopter gunship, attack helicopter and low-capacity troop transport with room for eight passengers.^[1] It is produced by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and was introduced by the Soviet Air Force in 1972. The helicopter is^[when?] in use with 58 countries.

In NATO circles, the export versions, Mi-25 and Mi-35, are denoted with a letter suffix as "Hind D" and "Hind E". Soviet pilots called the Mi-24 the "flying tank" (Russian: летающий танк, romanized: letayushchiy tank), a term used historically with the famous World War II Soviet Il-2 Shturmovik armored ground attack aircraft. Other common unofficial nicknames were "Galina" (or "Galya"), "Crocodile" (Russian: Крокодил, romanized: Krokodil), due to the helicopter's camouflage scheme, and "Drinking Glass" (Russian: Стакан, romanized: Stakan), because of the flat glass plates that surround earlier Mi-24 variants' cockpits.^[2]