A Brief History
On August 19, 2002, the Russian military suffered the worst fatal helicopter incident and crash in the history of aviation when a missile fired by Chechen Islamic Separatists struck a Russian Mi-26 helicopter, bringing the huge helicopter down in a minefield and killing a total of 127 Russian soldiers.
Digging Deeper
The Mil Mi-26 (NATO code named “Halo”) is a heavy lift helicopter introduced in 1983. Over 300 of the giants have been built, and it is the biggest and most powerful production helicopter ever produced. Its 2 turboshaft engines produce a total of almost 23, 000 horsepower, power needed to propel the big chopper at up to 183 mph and capable of lifting a load of 44,090 pounds (20,000 kilos). The design maximum passenger capacity is 90 troops, but on the fatal day in 2002 the overloaded whirlybird was carrying a stunning 140 soldiers with its crew of 5.
The missile fired by the Chechen separatists was a Russian made 9K38 Igla, (NATO code named SA-18 “Grouse”) a shoulder fired portable heat seeking anti-aircraft missile with a range of 3.2 miles and a warhead containing only 14 ounces of explosive!
The incident took place near the Chechen capital of Grozny, and the missile hit one of the Mi-26’s engines, forcing the helicopter to crash land, unfortunately right into a minefield containing anti-personnel mines. Many of the occupants of the helo not killed outright in the crash, were killed by mines as the soldiers attempted to leave the area. All 5 crewmen survived, as did about 29 troops, at least initially, all of whom escaped the helicopter before leaking fuel burned the wreck. (Numbers of fatalities, passengers and survivors are unclear and may not add up.)
The Russian military immediately sent a patrol to locate the perpetrators of the attack, but only found the spent missile tube. The neighborhood from where the missile was fired was leveled by the Russians to prevent future such attacks. One Chechen was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison, and another 4 suspects were identified but remain at large. This terror incident was different than previous Chechen separatist incidents by those committing the attack identifying as Islamists rather than Chechens. This incident marked a profound change in the ongoing guerilla war in Chechnya from a Nationalist movement to a religious movement. The attack and crash was filmed by the Chechens, and the film was released when the Russian government initially blamed the crash on technical difficulties. (Governments almost always lie first until forced to reveal the truth!)
Apparently it is regular Russian military practice to exceed the design load of passengers aboard the Mi-26 helicopters, while still carrying heavy loads of cargo as well.
Chechnya is a relatively small republic within Russia, with a population of only 1,395,768 (as of 2016) and an area of 6700 square miles (between the sizes of New Jersey and Connecticut). About 95% of the population is Islamic. Question for students (and subscribers): Is it worth it to Russia to keep this small place with a different ethnic group within their country? Should Russia just give Chechnya their independence and be done with the ongoing wars and terror incidents of the past 25 years? Or should Russia double down and stamp out the insurrection movement? Please give us your opinions on these subjects in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Billingsley, Dodge. Fangs of the Lone Wolf: Chechen Tactics in the Russian-Chechen War 1994-2009. Helion and Company, 2013.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Sergey Ryabtsev of a Russian Air Force Mil Mi-26, comes from the Sergey Ryabtsev collection and is copyrighted. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 only as published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License.