Mil Mi-22 (1975)

Based on the Mi-6 airframe, the Mi-22 is a large helicopter of conventional design, with a pod-and-boom fuselage and a single, five-bladed main rotor.[1] It has large stub wings mounted on the fuselage sides and fixed, tricycle undercarriage.[1] The major differences between the Mi-6 transport and Mi-22 command and control aircraft are internal,[1] but the Mi-22 can be externally distinguished by a large aerial mounted on the tail boom.[2] Individual aircraft featured numerous other differences in antenna placement, depending on the communications equipment used by the units to which they were assigned.[3] Such were the external similarities to Mi-6 transports that command post aircraft were often given a red stripe of paint to make them identifiable to troops.[3]

The Soviet military recognised the potential for a helicopter to provide forward control of ground forces as early as 1961.[1] That year, a Mil Mi-4 transport helicopter was modified as an "air command post" (Russian: Воздушный Командный Пункт, vozdushnyy komandnyy punkt), designated Mi-4VKP.[1] The weak powerplant of this helicopter limited the success of the concept, but the much larger and more powerful Mi-6 offered more potential.[1]

The first attempt to create a command and control variant of the Mi-6 began in late 1972 by a new, specially created "Equipment Management Department" (ORO, from Russian Отделом Руководства Оборудованием, Otdelom Rukovodstva Oborudovaniyem) at Air Force Repair Plant 535 in Konotop.[4]

A team led by D. M. Melnikov modified a Mi-6, adding a communications centre and an officer's lounge to create the Mi-6VKP.[1][4] Despite its designation, the Mi-6VKP could not perform its function while airborne and had to land to deploy equipment.[1][4] The ORO modified 36 Mi-6s from the Rostov factory this way.[4]

The Mi-6VKP was followed by a version that could carry out similar command-and-control functions, but from the air.[1][4] The centrepiece of this aircraft was a communications suite named Yakhont (Яхонт, an archaic name for ruby or sapphire), from which it gained its designation Mi-6AYA (Ми-бАЯ).[1][4] It was also known as the Mi-6VzPU (Ми-6ВзПУ, for Воздушный Пункт Управления, vozdushnyy punkt upravleniya, "air control post").[1][4] This version was ordered for mass production as the Mi-22,[1][4] carried out in Rostov.[1] The Yakhont unit combined and miniaturised much of the electronics that had been fitted to the Mi-6KVP, making use of solid-state technology to do so.[1]

Mi-22s entered service in 1975.[4] Some were assigned to mixed air regiments, alongside regular, transport Mi-6s and other types of helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and heavy trucks.[5] It was replaced in production by the even more capable Mil Mi-27[1]

Data from Prikhodchenko 1997, p.145

General characteristics

• Crew: 6 (flight crew) plus 2 officers and 3 NCOs (command post crew)
• Length: 41.739 m (136 ft 11 in)
• Height: 9.86 m (32 ft 4 in)
• Empty weight: 34,580 kg (76,236 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 44,500 kg (98,106 lb)
• Powerplant: 2 × TVD D-25V turboshafts, 4,100 kW (5,500 shp) each
• Main rotor diameter: 35 m (114 ft 10 in)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 280 km/h (170 mph, 150 kn)
• Cruise speed: 250 km/h (160 mph, 130 kn)
• Range: 600 km (370 mi, 320 nmi)
• Service ceiling: 4,000 m (13,000 ft)