Cyprus Mi-35s delivered to Serbian Armed Forces

On 19, 20 and 21 November 2023, Antonov Design Bureau Antonov An-124-100 UR-82008 made three flights from Paphos (Cyprus) to Batajnica (Serbia) delivering former Cyprus National Guard Mi-35P Hind attack helicopters.

According to the information, all remaining (eleven) Cyprus NG Mi-35s have been bought by Serbia and were transported on these flights. The flights, including some An-12 supporting flights made in October, were first reported by T6 (TangoSix).

A possible contract for taking over a number of Cyprus NG Mi-35s already dates back to April 2021. In January 2023, Scramble Magazine wrote that Serbia was originally to reach an agreement on buying five former Cyprus Mi-35 helicopters. After succesfull negotiations, it was expected that the first Mi-35s were to be delivered this year.

So with the three mentioned flights for the An-124, all eleven helicopters have been transported to Serbia.

The Mi-35Ps will be operated by the 714. Protivoklovna Helikopterska Eskadrila (714. phe) at Kraljevo/Ladjevci where they will join the four Mi-35Ms already operated by the Anti-Armor Helicopter Squadron. It might be that a limited number of Cyprus NG Mi-35Ps were operational because of lack of parts. More details will follow.

Credit photo: Marco Dijkshoorn