The Mil Mi-26 (Russian Ми-26, NATO reporting name Halo) is a Soviet/Russian heavy transport helicopter in service in civilian and military roles. It is the largest and most powerful helicopter ever to have gone into production. The Mi-26 was designed as a heavy-lift helicopter intended for military and civil use. It was designed to replace the earlier Mi-6 and Mi-12 heavy lift helicopters, with a design that had twice the cabin space and payload of the Mi-6, then the world's largest and fastest production helicopter. The primary purpose was to move military equipment such as 13 metric ton (29,000 lb) amphibious armored personnel carriers, as well as move mobile ballistic missiles to remote locations after delivery by military transport planes, such as an Antonov An-22 or Ilyushin Il-76.

The helicopter was designed by Marat Tishchenko, protégé of Mikhail Mil, founder of the design bureau OKB Mil.[1] The first Mi-26 flew on 14 December 1977, and entered service in the Soviet military in 1983.

The Mi-26 was the first helicopter equipped from the factory with an eight-blade rotor. It is capable of single-engine flight in the event of loss of power by one engine (depending on aircraft mission weight) because of an engine load sharing system.

While it is only slightly heavier than the Mil Mi-6, it can lift up to 20 metric tons (44,000 lb) - 8 tons more than Mi-6.

The Mi-26 is the second largest and heaviest helicopter ever constructed, following the experimental Mi-12. General characteristics

   * Crew: Six – 2 pilots, 1 navigator, 1 flight engineer, 1 loadmaster, 1 radio/electronic systems operator
   * Capacity:
         o 80 troops, 60 litters[9]
         o 20,000 kg cargo (44,000 lbs)[9]
   * Length: 40.025 m (131 ft 4 in) (rotors turning)
   * Rotor diameter: 32.00 m (104 ft 11.8 in)
   * Height: 8.145 m (26 ft 9 in)
   * Disc area: 789 m2 (8,495 ft²)
   * Empty weight: 28,200 kg (62,170 lb)
   * Loaded weight: 49,500 kg (108,900 lb)
   * Max takeoff weight: 56,000 kg (123,500 lb)
   * Powerplant: 2× Lotarev D-136 turboshafts, 8,380 kW (11,240 shp) each

Performance

   * Maximum speed: 295 km/h, 183 mph (160 kt)
   * Range: 1,952 km, 1,240 miles (1,080 nautical miles)