Mi-17 Hip-H

The Mil Mi-17 (NATO reporting name Hip-H) is the export designation of the Mi-8MT, the second-generation Soviet and Russian medium twin-turboshaft transport and armed assault helicopter that re-engined the Mi-8 with the Klimov TV3-117 and the rotors and transmission of the Mi-14. The Mi-8MT entered Soviet service in 1977 and the Mi-17 reached export customers from 1981; both were still in production at the Kazan and Ulan-Ude plants as of 2024. Flown by Russia and about 60 other countries, the type carries 24 to 40 troops or 4,000 kg (8,818 lb) and, in the Mi-8AMTSh and Mi-171Sh, flies as a gunship with rockets, gun pods and anti-tank missiles.

Development

The Mi-17 fitted the 1,397 kW (1,874 shp) TV3-117MT engines, rotor system and transmission developed for the Mi-14 naval helicopter to a Mi-8 fuselage strengthened for heavier loads. The resulting Mi-8MT is recognisable by its tail rotor on the port rather than the starboard side, dust shields ahead of the engine intakes and shorter engine cowls. The 1,545 kW (2,072 shp) TV3-117VM introduced on the Mi-8MTV gave a 6,000 m (19,700 ft) ceiling for hot-and-high work, and the FADEC-equipped Klimov VK-2500 followed. Kazan's Mi-8MTV-5, developed as the Mi-17MD from 1995, replaced the clamshell doors with a loading ramp, added a second door and the "dolphin" nose; Russian deliveries began in 2012, 130 of 140 ordered had reached the Defence Ministry by January 2019, and the Mi-8MTV-5M with a new autopilot entered service in 2025. Ulan-Ude's parallel Mi-8AMT, built since 1991 and exported as the Mi-171, produced the armed Mi-8AMTSh, of which the Russian Air Force received its first ten in December 2010 and 40 in 2014.

The 16 Mi-171Sh delivered to the Czech Air Force in 2005 carried TV3-117VM engines, a large right-hand door, a Czech-built APU and Kevlar plates around cockpit and engines, eight of them with a loading ramp. Sichuan Lantian Helicopter Company in Chengdu assembled 20 Mi-17s from Ulan-Ude kits in 2008 under a licence covering the Mi-171, Mi-17V-5 and Mi-17V-7, and a January 2019 contract gave Kazakhstan's ARP 405 plant 45 Mi-8AMT and Mi-171 kits for local assembly. The first three of the offshore Mi-171A3, unveiled on 26 February 2019 with elements of the Mi-38, reached Gazprom in June 2026.

Design

The Mi-171A2 is 18.47 m (60 ft 7 in) long and 5.65 m (18 ft 6 in) high, with a 21.25 m (69 ft 9 in) main rotor; it weighs 7,489 kg (16,510 lb) empty, 13,000 kg (28,660 lb) at normal maximum take-off and 13,500 kg (29,762 lb) with an underslung load. Its two VK-2500PS-03 turboshafts deliver 1,800 kW (2,414 shp) each for take-off and 2,000 kW (2,682 shp) in emergency, giving a maximum speed of 280 km/h (174 mph), a cruise of 260 km/h (162 mph), a range of 800 km (497 mi), a service ceiling of 6,000 m (19,700 ft) and an out-of-ground-effect hover ceiling of 4,000 m (13,100 ft). A crew of three carries 24 troops, 12 stretchers, 4,000 kg (8,818 lb) internally or 5,000 kg (11,023 lb) on the sling; the Mi-8MTV-2 raised seating from 24 to 30, the Mi-8AMTSh takes up to 40 people, and the Mi-171M reduces the crew to two.

Mission fits vary by builder and customer. The Mi-8MTV-5 has night-vision-compatible cockpit lighting and modernised communications; the Mi-17N night-attack export carries a GOES-321M turret with low-light television and FLIR; the Chinese-built Mi-171C adds a nose weather radar and a Doppler navigation radar. The Mi-171E's VK-2500-03 engines are cleared from −58 °C to 50 °C. Electronic-warfare conversions include the Mi-8MTPB (Hip-H EW3) with the Bizon jammer and the Mi-8MTPR-1 with the Rychag-AV jamming station, of which the Russian Air Force received three on 4 March 2014 towards a planned 18.

Armament

Armed versions carry disposable stores on up to six outboard hardpoints: S-8 rocket pods, UPK-23-250 gun pods, bombs, or drop tanks. The Mi-171Sh-HV and Mi-171Sh-VN add an electro-optical FLIR turret and anti-tank guided missiles such as the 9M120 Ataka; Algeria's Mi-171Sh2 pairs two B-8V20A rocket pods with eight Ataka missiles and the President-S self-protection suite. One or two PK 7.62 mm machine guns fire from the cabin windows. Cambodia armed five Mi-17s with 57 mm S-5 pods in the 1990s, and the Indian Air Force is refitting some Mi-17V-5s to carry the Spike missile.

Operational History

Royal Cambodian Air Force Mi-17s, five of them gunships, supported offensives against the Khmer Rouge in 1994 and the dry-season drive on Anlong Veng and Pailin in 1996. In the Kargil War, Mi-17s of the Indian Air Force's 129 Helicopter Unit flew strikes in the first phase of Operation Safed Sagar in May 1999; after Pakistan Army Anza-II shoulder-fired missiles brought down a Mi-17 and a MiG-21, armed helicopters were withdrawn in favour of Mirage 2000s with laser-guided bombs. CIA-operated Mi-17s carried US Army Special Forces in the opening phase of Operation Enduring Freedom, and the United States later bought the type for Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan, including 63 for the Afghan Air Force under a 2011 contract at US$16.4 to 18.4 million each. In July 2010 two Afghan Mi-17s with mixed US and Afghan crews lifted 2,080 flood victims in 13 hours. In 2022 the United States transferred 16 ex-Afghan Mi-17s to Ukraine. A Houthi Mi-17 landed the boarding party on the Galaxy Leader on 19 November 2023. Indian Mi-17s flew flood relief in Uttarakhand and Kishtwar in August 2025 and dropped nearly 12,000 tonnes of water and retardant on forest fires in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland in early 2026. On 29 April 2026 Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces said its drones had destroyed two Mi-17s and two Mi-28s while they refuelled in Voronezh Oblast.

India ordered 80 Mi-17V-5s in December 2008 for $1.375 billion, the first in service in February 2012, and 71 more contracted in December 2012 for about $1.3 billion, all 151 delivered by February 2016. China contracted for 32 and 52 Mi-171Es in 2009 and 2012 and ordered 100 Mi-171s, 18 of them Mi-171Sh, in 2019. Thailand bought six Mi-17s in October 2008 and had received ten by March 2021. Other orders include Bangladesh's 16 Mi-171Sh between 2014 and 2017, Belarus's 12 Mi-8MTV-5s in 2016–17, Peru's 24 Mi-171ShP for $528 million, and reported Iranian orders for 12 search-and-rescue aircraft in early 2024 and 21 Mi-171s in mid-2026. The Philippines cancelled a 16-aircraft Mi-171 deal on 27 July 2022 over the risk of US sanctions. Losses include an Indian Mi-17V-5 shot down by a friendly SPYDER battery over Budgam on 27 February 2019 and the 8 December 2021 crash near Coonoor that killed India's Chief of Defence Staff.

Variants

• Mi-8MT / Mi-17: Baseline production version with two 1,397 kW (1,874 shp) TV3-117MT turboshafts and provision for twin or triple stores racks; Mi-17 is the export name.
• Mi-8MTV / Mi-17-1V: Hot-and-high version with TV3-117VM engines and a 6,000 m (19,700 ft) ceiling; the MTV-2 seats 30.
• Mi-8MTV-5 / Mi-17V-5: Kazan-built utility transport with rear ramp, extra door and dolphin nose; 140 ordered for Russia and 151 for India.
• Mi-8AMT / Mi-171: Ulan-Ude-built equivalent produced since 1991, with VK-2500 engines optional and an Arctic version since 2020.
• Mi-8AMTSh / Mi-171Sh: Armed assault version with targeting systems, guided and unguided weapons and self-protection, exported to the Czech Republic, Bangladesh, Peru, Algeria and China.
• Mi-171E: Mi-171 with VK-2500-03 engines rated for −58 °C to 50 °C, bought by China in 2009 and 2012.
• Mi-171A2: Civil-certified version with VK-2500PS-03 engines, certified in India, Colombia, South Korea and Vietnam by 2021.