Mil Mi-10

Mil Mi-10

Company type	Helicopter
Industry	Aerospace, Military aviation
Predecessor	Mil Mi-6
Founded	1963
Founder	Mil Design Bureau (OKB-329)
Fate	Most variants withdrawn by 2009
Headquarters	Rostov-on-Don , Soviet Union
Area served	Soviet Union, Russia
Key people	G.V. Alfyorov (pilot, record holder), B.V. Zemskov (pilot, record holder), V.P. Koloshenko (pilot, record holder)
Products	Heavy transport helicopter (flying crane design)
Parent	Mil Design Bureau (OKB-329)

The Mil Mi-10 (NATO reporting name Harke), designated izdeliye 60, is a Soviet heavy transport helicopter featuring a Aerial crane design, derived from the Mil Mi-6 platform and entering operational service in 1963. While most variants had been withdrawn by 2009, the short-legged Mi-10K remained operational as of 2014.

Design and development

The introduction of the Mi-6 provided the Soviet Union with a valuable capability to transport and accurately position large, cumbersome, or heavy cargo. However, the Mi-6 faced challenges in its flying crane role, including an unfavorable weight-to-payload ratio and limited crew visibility of the load and its placement area. On 20 February 1958, a Council of Ministers directive commissioned OKB-329 (Mil Design Bureau) to create a specialized flying crane helicopter capable of carrying oversized loads unsuitable for the Mi-6’s cargo hold.

The Mil design bureau’s solution heavily incorporated components from the Mi-6, employing 4,100 kW (5,500 hp) Soloviev D-25V turboshaft engines mounted on a slender fuselage supported by four tall strut-braced landing gear legs. The wide stance allowed the helicopter to taxi over loads or enable mobile cargo to be transported beneath it. The fuselage accommodated 28 passengers and up to 3 t (6,600 lb) of freight accessible through a side door located in the rear fuselage, assisted by an integrated boom and winch system. Underslung cargo could be secured directly to the fuselage via hydraulically operated clamps or transported on an 8.5 m × 3.6 m (28 ft × 12 ft) pallet lifted by the winch and stabilized by cables or struts connected to the landing gear legs. Additionally, the external sling system from the Mi-6 with an 8 t (18,000 lb) capacity could be installed beneath the central fuselage.

The initial V-10 prototype featured angled main landing gear legs with single wheels on all four supports, along with a retractable emergency escape chute extending below the cockpit and external auxiliary fuel tanks mounted on either side of the central fuselage. As development advanced, modifications included replacing the main landing gear with vertical struts equipped with twin wheels, upgrading nose gear wheels to twin units after initially retaining singles, installing an auxiliary power unit (APU) behind the cockpit on the starboard side, and adding emergency escape slide cables for use when carrying palletized loads.

File:Mil Mi-10 CCCP-04102 Mick LBG 19.06.65 edited-1.jpg

Mil Mi-10 showcased at the 1965 Paris Air Show, transporting a LAZ bus beneath it.

The first V-10 prototype was completed in 1959 and subsequently received the official service designation Mi-10. Its maiden flight occurred on 15 June 1960, with flight testing proceeding successfully until May 1960 when the first prototype crashed during a precautionary landing caused by gearbox oil pressure loss; only the navigator/radio operator survived. Upon joining testing, the second prototype conducted multiple turbine-powered helicopter altitude and payload world record flights. After successfully completing state acceptance trials in 1961, production did not begin until 5 March 1964 at the Rostov-on-Don facility. The first production aircraft flew on 10 September 1964, resulting in a total of forty long-legged Mi-10 helicopters manufactured between 1964 and 1969.

An early production Mil Mi-10 was publicly displayed in Western Europe for the first time at the June 1965 Paris Air Show held at Le Bourget Airport.

Mi-10K (compact-legged variant)

File:Vzlet Mil Mi-10K (Remix).jpg

Mi-10K with shortened landing gear

The Mi-10's performance in carrying slung loads revealed several drawbacks, most notably the reduced payload capacity caused by its heavy, complex landing gear. More critically, despite being equipped with a CCTV system designed to monitor suspended loads, there was almost no effective visual control over these loads.

Abandoning the need to transport palletized or podded cargo, Mil developed a redesigned Mi-10 featuring a much shorter, fixed four-leg landing gear. Additionally, the extendable escape chute was replaced by a gondola equipped with flight controls, allowing a pilot to operate the helicopter during slung load missions. Apart from these modifications, the aircraft largely remained the same as the long-legged model. Between 23 March 1974 and 1977, seventeen units of this flying crane variant, designated Mi-10K, were manufactured, including two conversions from existing Mi-10 airframes.

Service history

The Mi-10 experienced moderate success in operational deployment, primarily assigned to Soviet Air Force (Voyenno-Vozdushnyye Sily, VVS) units already operating the Mi-6. Flights without cargo were found to be unstable, making rolling take-offs the preferred method; however, this often caused nose-wheel shimmy when the aircraft was lightly loaded. The initial primary role of the early Mi-10 diminished significantly due to advancements in ballistic missile technologyTemplate:Fix/category. Consequently, most of the long-legged versions were converted into Mi-10PP (or Mi-10P) electronic countermeasures helicopters. These variants carried a substantial ST-900 Step (Steppe) ECM pod mounted under the fuselage on a pallet.

Several other long-legged Mi-10s underwent conversions for diverse specialized tasks, typically as one-off prototypes. Notably, the Mi-10R (R for recordnyy, meaning record) was a record-setting helicopter adapted from a production model. It featured an Mi-6 undercarriage outfitted with aerodynamic fairings and spats, plus a tail bumper designed to protect the rear fuselage during landings.

World records

The Mi-10R set seven world records in the FAI E1 General class for turbine-powered rotorcraft; however, none remain unbroken today.

Source: Gordon, Komissarov & Komissarov 2005, p. 47

Date	Model	Record type	Achievement	Pilot
23 September 1961	Mi-10	Altitude with 15,000 kg (33,000 lb) payload	2,326 m (7,631 ft)	G.V. Alfyorov
23 September 1961	Mi-10	Maximum load lifted to 2,000 m (6,600 ft) altitude	15,103 kg (33,296 lb)	B.V. Zemskov
26 May 1965	Mi-10R	Altitude with 2,000 kg (4,400 lb) payload	7,151 m (23,461 ft)	V.P. Koloshenko
28 May 1965	Mi-10R	Altitude with 5,000 kg (11,000 lb) and 5,175 kg (11,409 lb) payloads	7,151 m (23,461 ft)	V.P. Koloshenko
28 May 1965	Mi-10R	Altitude with 15,000 kg (33,000 lb) payload	2,840 m (9,320 ft)	G.V. Alfyorov
28 May 1965	Mi-10R	Altitude with 20,000 kg (44,000 lb) payload	2,840 m (9,320 ft)	G.V. Alfyorov
28 May 1965	Mi-10R	Altitude with 25,000 kg (55,000 lb) payload	2,840 m (9,320 ft)	G.V. Alfyorov
28 May 1965	Mi-10R	Maximum load carried to 2,000 m (6,600 ft) altitude	25,105 kg (55,347 lb)	G.V. Alfyorov

Variants

File:Mil Mi-10 Harke.JPG

Mil Mi-10 displayed at the Monino Central Air Force Museum (Moscow)

izdeliye 60

Designation number for the product.

V-10

Experimental prototypes of the Mil Mi-10 helicopter.

Mi-10

The original long-legged production model.

Mi-10GR

A unique Mi-10 equipped with Grebeshok (Comb) direction-finding apparatus for ELINT (Electronic Intelligence) missions, housed in a pod suspended between the landing gear legs.

Mi-10K

(K - korotkonogiy, meaning short-legged) (NATO reporting name - Harke-B) A flying crane variant featuring a shortened, narrow-track undercarriage and a ventral cockpit for a second pilot.

Mi-10RVK

(RVK - raketno-vertolyotnyy kompleks, or heliborne missile complex) Various heliborne missile system configurations were planned, but only the 9K74 (also known as S-5V) underwent flight testing. Missiles were transported with tractor units and deployed after landing. Due to an increased takeoff weight of approximately 44.6 t (44,600 kg; 98,000 lb), the RVK was outfitted with low-pressure tires. Development ceased when the 4K95 cruise missile project was terminated.

Mi-10PP

(PP - Postanovschik Pomekh, meaning jammer) An ECM (Electronic Counter-Measures) helicopter variant, commonly used as the military designation.

Mi-10P

The official company or government label for the ECM Mi-10PP model.

Mi-10R

(R - recordnyy, meaning records) (NATO code - Harke-A) A single production unit fitted with a conventional landing gear adapted from the Mi-6, including spats, fairings, and a dual-wheeled tail bumper. Some Western publications mistakenly identify this aircraft as the Mi-10K.

Mi-10UPL

(universal'naya polevaya laboratoriya, or universal field laboratory) One prototype modified to carry a detachable mobile laboratory module designed for ore analysis.

Mi-10 flying crane

A singular prototype enhanced with 4,800 kW (6,500 hp) Soloviev D-25VF engines, upgraded equipment, and an improved transmission system.

Former operators

Template:RUS

• UTair

Template:USSR

• Aeroflot
• Soviet Air Force

Specifications (Mi-10)

File:Mil Mi-10 orthographical image.svg

External links

• File:Commons-logo.svg Media related to at Wikimedia Commons