The Mi-8 spawned the Mi-24 gunship helicopter which gained notoriety for its operations in Afghanistan. Widely exported to the Warsaw Pact countries, the Mi-24 uses the TV3 engines, transmission and rotor of the Mi-17 on a new fuselage, with stub wings carrying rockets and other offensive armament. As a gunship it was unusual in having a separate cabin capable of carrying eight troops. In the early Mi-24A the pilot sat behind the armament operator and had relatively poor forward vision but the later Mi-24D provided a raised rear seating position for the pilot and a bubble nose for the weapons position.

R.Simpson "Airlife's Helicopter and Rotorcraft", 1998