The destructive power of Vietnam's Mi-17 with new rockets
At the DSA-2018 Exhibition, Russia introduced the S-80FP - a new rocket line suitable for equipping many types of aircraft, including Vietnam's existing Mi-17.
According to the manufacturer, the S-80FP is currently a rocket model developed specifically for the Russian Air Force. It is designed with two detonation modes including instantaneous and delayed detonation depending on usage needs.
In addition, the tactical and technical features of the S-80FP are assessed by the Russian Air Force as being difficult for any air-to-ground rocket to match. The S-80FP is equipped with a smaller propulsion engine than previous versions of the S-80, which helps increase the size of its warhead by 50% and increase its destructive power by 5 to 10 times.
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| Install rockets for Vietnamese helicopters. |
Accordingly, the S-80FP will soon become an effective attack weapon for the multi-purpose attack aircraft of the Russian Air Force. The combat-technical features of impact efficiency, operational reliability and safety of the S-80FP are also rare.
Rockets can destroy single and exposed targets (groups), objects in defensive structures, forests, unarmored and lightly armored vehicles, surface ships in all weather conditions and regardless of day or night, allowing to carry out combat operations of aircraft and helicopters of tactical air forces and army aviation.
The S-80FP carries a penetrating explosive charge, has a range of 6 km, is 1.4-1.5 m long, and weighs no more than 17 kg. The weight of the combat part is 9-9.5 kg. In particular, this type of rocket is designed to be equipped on most Russian-made fighter jets and helicopters, including the Su-27 and Mi-17 currently in use in Vietnam.
However, even without being equipped with this new generation of rockets, Vietnam's Mi-17 helicopters still become a nightmare for any ground target because of the huge number of rockets they can carry. According to images recently released by QPVN television, each Mi-17 is equipped with up to 6 55mm rocket tanks with a total of 192 shells.
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| Huge number of rockets on Vietnamese helicopters. |
Based on the images published by QPVN Channel, the Mi-17 helicopter used S-5 rockets. S-5 rockets are 0.83 - 1.073 m long; weigh 3.64 - 5.02 kg; range is about 3 - 4 km depending on the version.
Currently, the S-5 rocket is still in service with the Russian Air Force as well as many other countries including Vietnam, often equipped on Mi-8/17 helicopters as well as Su-22 fighter bombers and L-39 training aircraft.
