Russian helicopters star in Paris

Russian helicopter makers are hoping that this year's Paris Air Show will see a boost in orders for their latest developments. One of them is a state-of-the-art MI-28 gunship which is said to be one of the most reliable helicopters in the world.

Last summer, the new generation attack helicopter rolled into the Russian Armed Forces for the first time. 50 others will join the active duty by 2010.

Mi-28 Havoc will help to phase out the notorious Mi-24 Hind, the bogeyman, demonised by Hollywood for it's fear factor, when, in Soviet times it ruled the Afghan skies.

“This helicopter has active defence system which allows to destroy enemy aircraft missiles,” said Sergey, the test-pilot.

“The engines are both separated which eliminates possibility of damaging them at the same time,” said the helicopte designer.

The energy absorbing landing gear & seats protect the crew in a crash landing to survive a vertical fall up to 12 meters per second.