Ukrainian special operations soldiers already using U.S.-made Black Hawk helicopter in combat

Soldiers with the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense have already mastered and are using the legendary American Black Hawk helicopter in combat operations.

According to Ukrinform, the agency said this in a post on Telegram.

"In recent days, in one area of the front, special operations units of the Main Intelligence Directorate took part in regular training on interaction with the Black Hawk multi-purpose helicopter. The special forces practiced the landing of combat groups on the battlefield, evacuation, disembarking from landing ropes, as well as night flights," the report said.

According to fighters and helicopter pilots, the combat helicopter is much better than its Soviet analogs Mi-8 and Mi-24 in terms of almost all characteristics.

"The helicopter impresses with its reliability, ease of operation and combat survivability," the agency quotes the helicopter's flight engineer as saying. According to him, the Ukrainian crews mastered the Black Hawk extremely quickly - in a matter of hours. "Having experience operating the Mi-8 and Mi-24, we flew on the Black Hawk on the first day we received it. We just sat down and made the flight," the Main Intelligence Directorate quoted a Ukrainian pilot as saying.

According to Ukrainian defenders, the Black Hawk is many times more maneuverable than the Mi-8, much better in maneuverability, and wins in terms of horizontal flight speed. The helicopter is capable of flying continuously for about three hours and can easily cover a distance of more than 600 kilometers.

This type of helicopter is designed to fire guided and unguided Hellfire missiles and is also designed to support infantry and transport various cargoes. It takes 3-4 seconds for the helicopter to unload a group of 12 fighters and evacuate another group from the battlefield.

"Over the past year, the level of our pilots has grown enormously. Currently, Ukraine can easily receive about a hundred multi-purpose Black Hawk helicopters, about 50 Apache attack helicopters, as well as about 40-60 Chinook cargo helicopters. We could receive such a number in minimal time for the retraining of our pilots," said the first pilot of the helicopter with the call sign "Maestro."

According to him, this Black Hawk helicopter is already taking an active part in hostilities, including on enemy territory.