Mi-35 Gunship

The Mi-35 Gunship is the North Korean army's main gunship that is featured in Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction.

Overview
The KPA Mi-35 Gunship is one of the most powerful helicopters in Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. Unobtainable in the Southern Province (with the exception of Song Tower), it only appears in the Northern Province during the later stages of the game. It is most often used by special members of the North Korean forces. Heavily armored and armed with a minigun, anti-tank rockets and 57mm rocket pods, the Mi-35 is a force to be reckoned with over North Korea's battlefields. It can be a strong asset or a dangerous enemy depending on whose hands it is in.

The Mi-35 is the best helicopter in the game in terms of armor and the number of roles it can fill. Its armor is strong enough to render it impervious to even the most sustained small-arms fire; only explosives can damage it. The real-life Mi-24/Mi-35 was designed to be able to operate in a contaminated environment, a characteristic it retains in-game: the Mi-35 is NBC (Nuclear Biological Chemical) shielded and can be safely flown into radioactive areas in North Korea without consequence. The Mi-35 is the only helicopter in the game armed like an attack helicopter yet also able to carry troops; its troop bay can hold up to four.

When the mercenary destroys an Mi-35, they will be paid $10,000.

Southern Province

 * The Mi-35 is seen for the first time flying around Song Tower during the ace contract 'Bringing Down the House'.

Northern Province

 * One is found patrolling the area around the Two of Hearts at Farm Valley.
 * Two can be found parked next to the Three of Hearts near Sinuiju Farms.
 * An Mi-35 can be seen landed on a helipad next to the Seven of Hearts.
 * One can be found on the ground at the most southern Yongbyon Reactor site during the contract 'Inspect and Verify'.
 * One is found patrolling the Chemical Complex during 'The Acid Queen'.
 * After completing 'Gambit' an Mi-35 can be found at the location of the Three of Spades parked on a helipad.
 * A group of four patrols the skies around the Eight of Spades, near Dandong, after completing 'Gambit'.
 * One suddenly spawns at the Unsan Village during 'Two Degrees of Separation'.
 * During 'Titular Regius' at least three Mi-35s can be found scattered around the Yongbyon nuclear facilities.
 * Mi-35s can usually be found north and north-east of Changsong Train Station; this is the only place on the free-roam map where they can still be seen after all the cards have been captured and all contracts completed.
 * Plenty of them can be found at the Fortified Mountain Complex during 'The Ace of Spades', including the one that carries General Song himself.

Tactics
No other helicopter in Playground of Destruction can do all the things that the Mi-35 can. It is heavily-armed and armored, able to fight like the heavy attack helicopter it was designed to be. An Mi-35 can tear through enemy armor no matter who the player is fighting, and its nose-mounted minigun can rip apart anything not protected against small-arms fire. The Mi-35's non-guided rocket pods are useful for when the pilot either desires to not expend one of the 8 guided anti-tank missiles on a less important target, or if the 8 missiles have already been expended. Thanks to its armor it is immune to small-arms fire, including machine guns and anti-armor rifles.

The Mi-35's troop bay can hold up to four passengers, allowing it to be used for combat-focused contracts, extraction or transportation contracts, or work involving any combination of these three. Its NBC shielding enables it to fly safely into and out of the radioactive areas found in North Korea without any harm to the pilot or passengers. In addition to attack and troop transport duties, the Mi-35 carries a sturdy magnetic winch, allowing it to lift and carry a wide range of vehicles in the game, though vehicles like main battle tanks are too heavy for the Mi-35 to lift.

The Mi-35's status as a North Korean-marked vehicle enables it to fulfill a fourth major role; infiltration. The Mi-35 can use its disguise to get into areas the KPA remains in control of without detection, a priceless asset for contracts like 'Reactor Retrieval'. Like any disguised vehicle, a player-flown Mi-35 will be identified as a fake if it comes too close to an officer of any faction; in KPA-held areas this could be disastrous, so distance must be kept from officers.

Like other helicopters, the main weakness of the Mi-35 are anti-air missiles, although it can take up to two missiles before it catches fire and plummets; also, the Mi-35 is slower than lighter helicopters and struggles a lot to dodge anti-aircraft.

When encountering a hostile Mi-35, the player must destroy it quickly or bail out if driving any ground vehicle; KPA pilots will mercilessly rain rockets and anti-tank missiles on the player, and not even the mighty M1 Tank can stand up to that for long. Calling in an Air Superiority, or using anti-air weapons to deal with it is advised. A daring but rewarding option is to get underneath the Mi-35 on foot, and move around to stay under it, until the Mi-35 flies low enough for the option to hijack it to appear. Trying to hijack an airborne Mi-35 can be time-consuming and dangerous, but well worth it if the effort results in the vehicle's capture. An easy way to obtain one while first in the Northern Province is to get a North Korean MD-500 Scout, wait until disguised, then fly a little north until a number card with one of these nearby appears and land right beside the Mi-35 to take it with little difficulty, because none of the guards carry heavy weapons capable of damaging the copter. Until the card is captured, the copter will respawn each time a contract is completed, or if the game is reloaded.

The major downside of the Mi-35 when compared to other aircrafts is the lack of anti-air missiles; this puts the Mi-35 at a disadvantage when fighting against other Nations' helicopters. Fighting against another Mi-35 is also challenging, since the only way to damage the opponent is through the unguided rockets, which are not very accurate against flying targets.

Real Life
The Mi-35 Gunship is based on the Mil Mi-24/35 Gunship. 35 denotes the export model, intended for sale to foreign countries. Since North Korea has never produced its own Mi-24/35 helicopters, they would have purchased export model Mi-35s from the Soviet Union. The name assigned to the Mi-24/35 by the American-led NATO alliance is "Hind". The two "bubble" cockpits featured are for the pilot (rear one) and weapons systems operator (front one). In-game only the pilot cockpit can be manned, as the flight and weapons controls are both available to the player from the pilot's cockpit. The Korean People's Army Air and Anti-Air Force operates at least 20 Mi-35s.

Related Pages

 * Vehicles of the Korean People's Army in Playground of Destruction
 * YAH-56 Gunship
 * LHX Light Attack
 * Ka-50 Attack
 * Anaconda - Mercenaries 2: World in Flames equivalent