Rohan Ramesh

For some reason, the three iconic names in helicopter designing are all Russian – Igor Sikorsky, Nikolai Kamov and Mikhail Mil. The series of helicopters that bear their last names are today among the most formidable rotary machines used by the world. And Russians continue to be world leaders in designing state-of-the-art helicopters, along with the Americans.

President, Russian Helicopters, Andrey Boginsky at a MoU signing ceremony at Aero India 2019

Helicopters were first envisioned by the Chinese in the fourth century A.D. But it was only a century ago that the first crude prototypes were experimented with. It was in the intervening period between World War I and II that the Americans and Russians feverishly began trying out various designs.

While air forces looked upon helicopters with some disdain, busy as they were in quest for the fastest and the most agile fighters and long-range bombers that could carry the heaviest payload, navies, notably of the US, began looking at the helicopter as a versatile aviation addition to their flotillas. The helicopters’ qualities and potential were exciting. They were light enough for armed vessels to carry on their decks, could be used for rescue, airborne advance warning, and most importantly, in anti-submarine attack role.

And by the end of World War II, and in the Fifties and Sixties, rotary-winged aircraft evolved as a species on their own, as their qualities of being able to take of land on minimal landing strips and to navigate through difficult and dangerous terrain began to be recognised.

As heavier helicopters began to be manufactured, the helicopters began to be valued for their advantages of being troop carriers.

And the next step in the evolution of