Russian Airborne Troops (VDV) News:

The Mi-35 is a workhorse. It would be ideal for Russia to buy more of them as it's ideal for the anti terrorist roll. Mi-28 are great but they are expensive and rather overkill imo.

GunshipDemocracy wrote:

Hole wrote:There is a 23mm gun.

only as an option, not fixed one though.  I was referring to fixed guns. IMHO it was just interesting that in Mi-24 there was 12,7 gun, in Mi-35 2x23mm now in Mi8 win "IVF" edition they scaled down to 12,7mm. Looks like it works better for this kind of applications.

The 12,7mm guns are also not fixed.

Hole wrote:

The 12,7mm guns are also not fixed.

Actually they are. Both in article and on pictures

miketheterrible wrote:The Mi-35 is a workhorse. It would be ideal for Russia to buy more of them as it's ideal for the anti terrorist roll.  Mi-28 are great but they are expensive and rather overkill imo.

True, but this one here is for transport and support of VDV / special forces not gunship role.

miketheterrible wrote:The Mi-35 is a workhorse. It would be ideal for Russia to buy more of them as it's ideal for the anti terrorist roll.  Mi-28 are great but they are expensive and rather overkill imo.

Mi-24 are cheap. Mi-35 is as expensive as mi-28. Mi-28 offers better fighting capability and is better armoured but had more crashes than mi-35 which offers transport capability.

These 12,7mm guns are installed in the same way as back in the 80´s in Afghanistan. They are as fast removed as the UPK-23-250 gun pods.

Hole wrote:These 12,7mm guns are installed in the same way as back in the 80´s in Afghanistan. They are as fast removed as the UPK-23-250 gun pods.

As you say, my translation might not be perfect but it looks like army requested 12,7mm to me .
Tass
https://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/7595475

вооружен двумя курсовыми пулеметами калибра 12,7 мм на спецподвеске

"equipped with 2 coaxial machine guns on a special mount"



after Russian wiki:
Курсовой пулемёт — это пулемёт который устанавливается в отделении управления боевой машины в зафиксированном состоянии (не меняет своё положение ни в горизонтальной ни в вертикальной плоскостях), которое позволяет ему стрелять исключительно по курсу движения (направлению движения), что и обуславливает название.


google translate (well not perfect but you can check yourself :
co-axial gun - a machine gun that is installed in the control unit of the combat vehicle in a fixed state (does not change its position either in the horizontal or vertical planes), which allows it to fire exclusively at the heading (direction of motion), which is the reason for the name.

The thing is called MAA-M

MAA-OP

1.2t weight. According to Rob Lee on twitter they are made to be carried by helicopters.

I wonder where Russia intend to use them. They are clearly for warm or tropic environment and not for Russian Siberian winter.

Well, they could wear a coat.

medo wrote:I wonder where Russia intend to use them. They are clearly for warm or tropic environment and not for Russian Siberian winter.

Central Asia, Africa, Syria

Take your pick

Anywhere where you don't have the need or the logistics capacity for a full-on VDV force, but can fit a rapid-reaction helicopter-born battalion in for rapid reaction and mobility.

Kotyonok buggy

New MAA-OP vehicle

RKhM-5M NBC recon vehicle

Airborne to receive only 2,500 conscripts this draft as compared to 6,000 in the last draft.

"The cherished path to the vest and blue beret will be closed to some recruits due to the reduced recruitment of young soldiers in the Airborne Forces. Only the best of the best recruits will go there.

Of course, there is no talk of a regular sequestration in the Airborne Forces. The number of Russian winged infantry will remain within 45 thousand people. However, in recent years, in connection with the increased tasks of the Airborne Forces and the arrival of high-tech military equipment in their brigades and divisions, the generals have stepped up the recruitment of contract servicemen. This is precisely what explains the lowering of the landing call bar.

According to the head of the organizational and mobilization department of the headquarters of the Airborne Forces Dmitry Satarov, the demand for conscripts this fall and winter will be limited to 2.5 thousand guys. For comparison, six months ago this figure was 6 thousand recruits. But conscripts from 64 regions of Russia will join all formations and units of the Russian winged infantry, with the exception of the 31st separate airborne assault brigade in Ulyanovsk. For several years now this connection has been completed exclusively by professionals."

Sounds austrian.