13/10/2025
Lesser-known Mi helicopter projects:
1. Mi-37 "Tungus" was developed in parallel with the Mi-28 as an alternative development of the Mi-24 without the troop-cargo cabin, in a purely attack version. The helicopter incorporated all the experience of the design bureau and the latest achievements in helicopter engineering (at that time). The further fate of the project is unknown.
2. The super-heavy Mi-32. In 1982, the project to create a unique 3-rotor transport machine was ready. According to approximate estimates by the designers, by the late 1980s the Soviet Union would have received the first samples of the super-heavy Mi-32 helicopter. But the expectations were in vain – the decree to start construction of the Mi-32 from the country's leadership never came. The project remained on paper and was realized only in several reduced models.
3. Mi-52, a light multipurpose helicopter project proposed in the early 1990s. Apparently, the Mi-38 was its continuation.
4. Mi-40. After the successful start of Mi-28 testing, the designers at the M.L. Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant came up with the idea of using the refined and perfected units and systems of the combat helicopter to create rotary-wing machines for new purposes, similar to how in the 1960s the Mi-14 and Mi-24 were built based on the units and components of the Mi-8. Work on this project under the designation Mi-40 began in 1983. On the new machine, the designers intended to implement their long-standing idea: to simultaneously accommodate an infantry squad, guided anti-tank missiles, and an integrated cannon mount in the helicopter. The designed machine was to become the Soviet analogue of the American UH-60A, but with significantly enhanced fire support means for the landing troops. The specialists at the Moscow Helicopter Plant conducted the necessary mock-ups, but insufficient funding delayed the development of such an important program for protecting the state's interests.
5. Mi-46, a heavy transport project to replace the Mi-6 and Mi-10.
6. Mi-54 — one of the multipurpose helicopter projects developed by the M.L. Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant. Development began in 1992 in accordance with the then-adopted "Program for the Development of Civil Aviation Technology in Russia until 2000" with the prospect of entering serial production in 1999. Due to lack of funds, the project was significantly delayed (work continued under the target program "Development of Civil and Aviation Technology for 2002–2010 and for the period until 2015"); the first flight was planned for 2011, but financial problems continued to delay the project, and it was closed in 2011.
8. Mi-60
A multipurpose ultra-light class helicopter has been under development since autumn 1993 under the direction of Academician M.N. Tishchenko by the Helicopter Design Department of the Moscow Aviation Institute and the M.L. Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, commissioned by the State Committee for Science and Technology. The helicopter, piloted by one pilot, is designed to carry one passenger or an equivalent load both inside the cabin and on an external sling. It can be used for pilot training, patrolling extended objects, servicing fire protection and law enforcement agencies, environmental monitoring, and other operations that do not require transporting large loads or complex instrumentation.
9. Mi-20 — developed in the late 1960s. The helicopter was designed as a light single-engine multipurpose machine. The development of such a helicopter, later designated Mi-20, was mandated by a government decree in 1965.
