The Mil-84 originated from the Russian Department of Military Aviation as it was believed that there was a growing need for a close air support aircraft in the light of military conflicts in the middle east. The new aircraft needed the flexibility of a gunship whilst incorporating the speed and long range capabilities of a fighter jet. It was deemed that the ageing Su-25 and Mi-24 gunships needed a successor with updated avionics and computer systems to deal with improved anti-air targets on the ground. As the crisis in the the Middle East intensified Russia's need to safeguard its interests abroad became a priority. In the light of terrorist organisations gaining a foothold in Syria (Russia's key ally) the Russian Government thought it necessary to increase military expenditure. It was because of this that the MI-84 programme excellerated. The program intitially started in early 2001 with a working prototype proposed for mid 2015. The Mil-84 first flew in August 2015 with flight testing and design alterations; the complexity and difficulties of being the first tiltjet aircraft intended for military service in the world led to many years of development.
The Mi-84 is a new-generation attack gunship that can function as an air-to-air aircraft. However, it is more suited to air-to-ground missions and used in tandem with the Ka-50 Hokum. The tiltjet engines mounted on the ends of its wings provide most of the thrust and enable the aircraft to hover and take off vertically should the situation require it. The aircraft also has a further two smaller engines either side of the cockpit that increase thrust output. is mounted above the body midsection, and short, wide, tapered, weapon-carrying wings are mounted to the rear of body midsection. Two turboshaft engines in pods are mounted alongside the top of the fuselage with downturned exhausts. The fuselage is slender and tapers to the tail boom and nose. It features a tandem, stepped-up cockpits and a cannon mounted beneath the belly, with retractable wheel type landing gear. This energy-absorbing landing gear and seats protect the crew in a crash landing or in a low-altitude vertical fall. The crew is able to survive a vertical fall of up to 14 m/s. The Mi-84 has a fully armoured cabin, including the windshield, which withstands impact by 7.62 and 12.7mm bullets and 30mm shell fragments.
The helicopter design is based on the conventional pod and boom configuration, with a tail notar system. The system uses a fan inside the tailboom to build a high volume of low- pressure air, which exits through multiple slots and creates a boundary layer flow of air along the tailboom utilising the Coanda effect.The boundary layer changes the direction of airflow around the tailboom. This creates thrust opposite the motion imparted to the fuselage by the torque effect of the main engines. Directional yaw control is gained through a vented rotating drum at the end of the tailboom, called a direct jet thruster. With this system in place it offers quieter and safer operation.
The Mi-84 Hydra is equipped with advanced sensors, the most noticeable of which being the Tu/SAR-89 millimeter-wave fire-control radar. The radome's raised position enables targets detection while the gunship is behind obstacles (e.g. terrain, trees or buildings). The array is capable of simultaneously tracking up to 150 targets and engaging up to 19 at once, an attack can be initiated within 20 seconds. A radio modem integrated with the sensor suite allows data to be shared with ground units and other aircraft in the vicinity allowing them to fire on targets detected by a single gunship. The aircraft is equipped with two heavily armoured cockpits, a windshield able to withstand hits from 12.7–14.5 mm caliber bullets, in nose electronics, and a narrow-X2 tail notar, with reduced noise characteristics. It is powered by two 2,500 hp G TV-4-119VM (t/n 014) Rotating Turboshaft engines.
The Mi-84 features a helmet mounted for the pilot. The pilot would designate targets for the Navigator/Weapons Officer, who proceeds to fire the weapons required to fulfill that particular task.The integrated surveillance and fire control system has two optical channels providing wide and narrow fields of view, a narrow-field-of-view optical television channel, and laser rangefinder. The system can move within 110 degrees in azimuth and from +13 to -40 degrees in elevation.
The Mi-84 is equipped with a chin-mounted 30 mm Shipunov 2A44 auto-cannon. The cannon is select fire, and has a dual-feed, which allows for a cyclic rate of fire between 200 rounds per minute to 550 rounds per minute. Its effective range varies from 1,500 meters for ground vehicles to 2,500 meters for air targets. The ammunition used varies from depleted uranium rounds to high explosive and armour piercing can be used.
The vehicle itself was modelled in Maya and rendered in mental ray with a diffuse, spec and occlusion passes. I used a physical sun and sky node to render the day images and area lights with linear falloff for the night images. I then textured the model and graded the plates in Photoshop. Hope you folks like it. Any questions feel free to ask.
The Mi-84 is equipped with a chin-mounted 30 mm Shipunov 2A44 auto-cannon. The cannon is select fire, and has a dual-feed, which allows for a cyclic rate of fire between 200 rounds per minute to 550 rounds per minute. Its effective range varies from 1,500 meters for ground vehicles to 2,500 meters for air targets. The ammunition used varies from depleted uranium rounds to high explosive and armour piercing can be used.
The vehicle itself was modelled in Maya and rendered in mental ray with a diffuse, spec and occlusion passes. I used a physical sun and sky node to render the day images and area lights with linear falloff for the night images. I then textured the model and graded the plates in Photoshop. Hope you folks like it. Any questions feel free to ask.
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