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The Mi-28NE attack helicopters Iran received from Russia earlier in the year have apparently survived the American-Israeli war.
The delivery of the helicopters first became known on January 28, when photos showing one of the helicopters, painted with a digital desert camouflage pattern, at a hangar of the Pars Aerospace Services Company based at Mehrabad International Airport near Tehran were leaked. The helicopter was partly disassembled, and not equipped with a radar.
The airport was hit more than once during the war — which started on February 28 and came to a temporary halt on April 7 as a result of a two-week ceasefire agreement. Still, the helicopters apparently survived.
Video footage posted to social networks on April 14 showed at least two Mi-28NEs conducting a patrol over the Iranian capital.
With a maximum speed of 324 kilometers per hour, the Mi-28NE is one of the fastest attack helicopters in the world. It has a combat range of 200 kilometers.
It is still unclear if the helicopters saw any action during the war. They came equipped with a mast-mounted millimeter-wave radar system — most likely the N025NE which has a range of 10 to 20 kilometers. The radar boosts the Mi-28NE capability as a drone-hunter.
During the 12-day June war with Israel last year, Iran reportedly attempted to use its aging AH-1Js — delivered by the United States all the way back in the 1970s — to intercept Israeli drones. Many of the helicopters were struck on the ground at the time, and there is no evidence suggesting that they managed to shoot down any drone.
Armed with Igla-V and R-73 anti-aircraft missiles, in addition to its chin-mounted 30 mm gun, the Mi-28NE can be a lethal drone-hunter, especially with the inclusion of the N025NE.
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a little birdy told me that iran is using hybrid seafloor benthic rovers to sow bottom influence mines in hormuz.