Mil-18 hip weapon system question

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I've been lead to understand that the Russians didn't want the napalm to spread when they used it in Afghanistan. They wanted to concentrate it on a specific area to consume the oxygen and thus suffocate the mujahideen hiding in crevasses, caves or wells and so on.

On a related note, I recall some book stating that the Mi-8/Mi-17 series was the most heavily armed attack helicopter in the world because it could carry 3000-4000kg of ordnance.
As an aside, it's a pity the Mi-18 didn't go into production but that was good news for the West. Compared to the Mi-17, it had a 0.9m fuselage extension, retractable undercarriage, 20km higher speed, 500m higher service ceiling and an approximately 110km increase in maximum range.

As for the Mi-24, it is definitely pilot and gunner. The pilot can fire the weapons also but for the nose turret, he can only fire it when it is facing forward. Generally he flies and detects targets while the weapon operator does all the firing etc. I think in the example given it is possible to have the pilot loose a salvo of rockets while the weapon operator searches for other targets with the nose gun (but that only works for earlier models, the later models like the Mi-24E have two forward facing 23mm cannon on the right side of the fuselage rather than a nose turret)