MI-24 Hind

"Oy, Soap! Take this RPG and shoot at Hind!!!" - Cpt. Price on the most effective method of fighting Hinds

“A Hind D?!”

Called the Krokodil (Crocodile) by its crews, the Mi-24 Hind is an unusual aircraft in that it combines the roles of transport and attack helicopter, which has never been fully replicated before or since. Thus the Mi-24 is more like a flying Infantry Fighting Vehicle than an attack helicopter (More like Infantry FLYING Vehicle AMIRIGHT!?!)

The Hind is also as armored as a friggin' tank. Anything smaller than a 23mm round will have a hard time even scratching the paint on this thing. That said, it was also as graceful as a tank, thanks to it's bulky profile. So while it was pretty durable for a chopper, it wasn't exactly that hard to pelt the damn thing to death, if you had the armaments to bring it down.

In Team Yankee

The Stat Card

Just like in real life the Hind is an interesting beast. While it is not quite as safe during anti-armor operations as the US Cobra, the Hind has a more penetrating shot. Mounting the AT-6 Spiral missile, the Hind can abuse NATO armor with an AT 23, FP 3+ missile that can strike targets up to 20" away. The AT-6 is also Guided and HEAT so don't worry about the penalties of using it at range.

As for the infantry that just crawled out of their smoldering transport (or an Attack Chopper wanting to dogfight like it's 1915 or something) the Hind has the 12.7mm Yak-B Gatling Gun. A ROF 3, AT 5 Machine gun that stands a chance of wiping out dug in infantry with its 5+ FirePower or more likely; enemy vehicles such as M109s which can be mass-bailed.

Also, if the Capitalists start to mimic you and use human wave tactics, once per game your Hinds can let loose a massive salvo template with the UB-32 Rocket launcher. Though it only has a FP of 6, these rockets will still royally screw infantry in the open, so don't be afraid to use it when you get the opportunity.

In addition, the copious amount of firepower the Hind can carry 2 infantry teams in its belly. While it might not seem like much, these sons of the motherland can surprise unsuspecting NATO players given how mobile they are. You can easily set up ambushes and sneakily secure objectives from under their capitalist noses. However, your helicopter must start its turn on the ground for the onboard infantry to jump out, meaning that you must land the previous turn, then endure at least one turn of enemy shooting (if you land in the open) before you can drop off your Gopniks. So really think hard before you try to take out opposing artillery and take a 155mm Direct Fire Shell to the face. It is worth noting that these kinds of landings are much easier to do if your battle is being fought at night, as long as you land more than 24inches from enemy AA.

You can Field Hinds as part of your Soviet or East German armies at 5 points per pair of choppers, from a minimum of 2 Hinds to a max of 6.

Typically, these gunships would be used to neutralize the last of the enemy's anti-air net in combination with Frogfoots to establish aerial superiority, as the rules of Team Yankee forbid the gentlemen pilots of NATO and PACT from engaging one another. With a brutally tough but short ranged ATGM combined with their mobility (which you would probably do each turn, without any benefits for being stationary), the Hind excels in an environment clear of any missile anti-air units. With a passenger capacity slightly smaller than a metal box, the ability to grab an objective at the final turn can be a game changer. Compared to NATO helicopters, the Hind has a highly different role: terror weapons to be used in strafing runs with the protection to shrug off bullets rather than sensibly cowardly hiding behind forests, plinking away with missiles.

IRL

A Polish Hind

These helicopters were infamous during the Soviet-Afghan war for sending the Muhajadeen on the run and nicknamed 'Satan's Chariot'. Pilots would often leave the infantry behind during missions, as when they were forced to pull some pretty extreme maneuvers to avoid the Stinger missiles supplied to the Muhajadeen by the good ol’ US of A, anyone in the troop cabin tended to scream and tumble about the cabin, which was very distracting. Eventually a large number of Hinds will be replaced by the Mil Mi-28 Havoc and Kamov Ka-50 (the former for the army, latter for special forces), designs that dispense with the need to carry troops. Export variants of the Hind are still used by many third world countries, including a modernized version called the SuperHind made in South Africa. While the old Hind itself is being used as a testbed for high-speed helicopter technology.

As stated above, the Hind D is more-or-less a flying tank (or IFV, to be more precise), making it mostly immune to small-arms fire and capable of dishing out as much punishment as one aswell. However, the size and weight were also one of it's glaring weaknesses; it was about as graceful as a tank while in the air. Its large' profile and heavy armor made it less agile in the sky, compared to other choppers of it's class (The Hind was roughly 50% heavier than your average utility chopper and almost as heavy as a gunship,). This is one of the primary reasons why other countries did not follow suit with a flying IFV; it was a lot more practical to have the roles of transport and gunship separate, as the transport's smaller profile made it more agile and harder to shoot down at range (increasing the likelihood of it delivering it's cargo on location), and not having a cargo compartment made dedicated gunships smaller and allowed it to carry heavier guns as it's engine power was dedicated entirely to combat roles.

The most famous version is the Hind-D, featuring the iconic double-bubble cockpit. The earlier Hind-24A (as seen in the classic film "Red Dawn") featured a more conventional flat windows cockpit.

East German Forces in Team Yankee
Tanks:	T-55 - T55AM2 - T-72M - T-72B
Transports:	BTR-60 - BMP-1 - BMP-2
Troops:	Mot-Schützen Kompanie - Hind Assault Landing Company
Artillery:	2S1 Carnation - BM-21 Hail - RM-70 - 2S3 Acacia
Anti-Aircraft:	ZSU 23-4 Shilka - SA-13 Gopher - SA9 Gaskin - SA-8 Gecko
Tank Hunters:	Spandrel
Recon:	BMP-1 OP - BRDM-2
Aircraft:	MI-24 Hind - SU-22 Fitter
Soviet Support:	SU-25 Frogfoot