Two crew members on a routine training flight were killed Friday when a Mi-28 attack helicopter crashed in annexed Crimea, Russia’s military said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that the helicopter flew without ammunition and had no damage on the ground.
The Russian defense ministry said in a release that the helicopter crashed at about 16.00 hours. It crashed during a “planned training flight” in the Dzhankoy district.
“The Mi-28N Night Hunter attack helicopter is designed to defeat armored and unarmored vehicles, low-speed low-flying air targets, as well as manpower on the battlefield,” the Russian defense ministry said.
The Mil Mi-28 (NATO reporting name “Havoc”) is a Russian all-weather, day-night, military tandem, two-seat anti-armor attack helicopter. It is an attack helicopter that carries a single gun in an undernose barbette, plus external loads carried on pylons beneath stub wings.
The Mi-28 has a fully armored cabin, including the windshield, which withstands impact by 7.62mm and 12.7mm bullets and 20mm shell fragments.