The Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) has displayed its recently acquired Mi-35M attack helicopters for the first time.
Two Mi-17 transport helicopters and two Mi-35M attack helicopters belonging to the Rwandan Air Force were seen flying over Amahoro Stadium in the capital Kigali on Sunday 11 August for the inauguration of President Paul Kagame, who was sworn in for his fourth term. They were subsequently seen on at least one other occassion.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI’s) arms transfers database, Rwanda ordered four Mi-35Ms in 2019. These were spotted at Rostvertol in 2021 and delivered in 2022. Rwanda previously acquired six Mi-17s from Russia in 2014/2015.
Compared to the earlier Mi-24, the upgraded Mi-35M is far more capable. It features several improvements over its predecessors, such as new avionics with multifunction colour displays, more powerful Klimov VK-2500 turboshaft engines developing 2 200 shp, fibreglass main rotor blades, main rotor head with elastomeric joints, a new swashplate and X-type tail rotor. The Mi-35M’s fuselage has shortened stub wings and fixed landing gear. The helicopter’s sighting system has a thermal imager, TV camera and laser rangefinder and designator.
According to Russian Helicopters, weapons include Ataka-V or Shturm-V ant-tank missiles and Igla-V air-to-air missiles, 80 or 122 mm rockets and a GSh-231 23-mm twin-barrel cannon. In addition to weapons, the Mi-35M can carry up to eight personnel in its cabin or cargo weighing 1 500 kg while up to 2 400 kg can be carried on an external sling.
The helicopter’s self-protection suite includes a radar warning receiver, chaff & flare dispenser, infrared jammer and engine exhaust suppressor.
The new acquisitions bring the Rwandan military’s rotary wing fleet to 24 Mi-17s, seven Mi-24s and four Mi-35s. The Rwandan government also flies a single A109 and a single AW139 helicopter as well as a G550 business jet.
Some of Rwanda’s Mi-17s have been deployed with the United Nations in South Sudan (one crashed there in March 2019).
The only other aircraft in the Rwandan Air Force’s fleet are Cessna 208 Grand Caravan fixed wing aircraft – two were acquired from the United States in 2021. These were supplied through grand aid funding, with the US government providing 14 Grand Caravan EX aircraft to several countries in Africa, including Tunisia and Djibouti. ATI Engineering in 2020 was contracted to convert the two Grand Caravans for the Rwanda Defence Force under the US military’s African Partnership Flight initiative. They were fitted with secure HF and UHF radios, Night Vision Imaging System (NVIS) interior and exterior lighting, and a reconfigurable multi-mission interior featuring two ambulatory medical stretcher kits, 11 passenger seats, eight collapsible utility seats and a removable rollerball cargo floor.
Other relatively recent acquisitions by Rwanda, according to SIPRI, include three SH-1 122mm self-propelled guns from China (2018), 50 Red Arrow-9 anti-tank missiles from China in 2017/18, two RM-70 122 mm self-propelled guns from Slovakia (2019), 76 Cobra APCs from Turkey (2012-2017), and 53 Cobra 2 APCs from Turkey in 2021.
